Allister comments on ‘window-dressing’ meeting of the Assembly
25 October 2010
Statement by TUV Leader Jim Allister:-
“Today’s meeting of the Stormont Assembly is really little more than window-dressing.
“Stormont has known for months the cuts were coming, but devised no plan. Indeed for today its first choice was for a week off!
“This Stormont is incapable of working, because its government is not formed on the basis of common vision or policy, but is a dysfunctional mix of contradictory contentions, producing inevitable deadlock and inaction. So, it will fail Northern Ireland in its greatest hour of economic and fiscal need. Instead of a cogent, workable plan and budget to carry us through these difficult times we will tread water for months and become mired in irreconcilable economic dogmas.
“Unless and until we get to the democratic norm, which prevails everywhere else, whereby government is formed by agreement on policy, rather than the compulsion of mandatory coalition, which requires no agreement, then we are doomed to inaction and deadlock. Meanwhile, frontline services will pay the price of failure to make the cuts where they ought to fall, for example on the useless north/south bodies and the excessive bloat of Stormont itself.
“Already severely damaged in public opinion, as evidenced by the recently revealed public attitudes survey, Stormont’s inability to respond coherently to the economic crisis will further undermine its credibility.”
