Allister to fight for Assembly seat
16 February 2011
Speaking on the occasion of his selection by North Antrim TUV to contest the Assembly election on 5th May, TUV Leader Jim Allister set out his vision for the future of Stormont.
He said “It’s time to face facts. This Stormont is not working! It is a dysfunctional shambles. It needs urgent reform, not in 4 years, but now.”
“Over the last 4 years it has cost the Ulster taxpayer, over £100m to fund 108 overpaid MLAs, huge expenses, 15 Ministers and a Joint First Minister’s staff bigger than that of the US President! In 4 years they’ve done nothing to reduce any of this. Unemployment and cut backs have been felt everywhere except among the political elite in Stormont. In addition the Stormont Executive has poured £400m down the drain on funding useless north/south bodies and while money has been cut from frontline services millions has been wasted on needless promotion of the Irish language.
“The cost of Stormont’s failure is not just financial. On key issues, like education, endless deadlock and chaos has reduced parents, teachers and pupils to despair. This Executive has also failed in its stewardship of the economy; despite heady promises on jobs and investment we’ve seen lengthening dole queues – now more than doubled to 60,000 since the DUP/Sinn Fein coalition took over. Dither and discord saw loss of the Stadium and millions wasted on planning reform of local government which never happened. Water in crisis, but no accountability from the responsible minister. Just ask yourself, ‘What has Stormont done for you?’
“Now, you are asked to re-elect those who have so lamentably failed to bring you good government. If you do, or stay at home, expect more of the same!
“But, it doesn’t have to be like this. A Stormont that works is possible, but it requires fundamental change to make it work. TUV alone, untainted by the failures of the last 4 years, stands for such change.
“We want devolution that works. The present system will never work. It defies the laws of workable government. Compulsory or enforced coalition, with a prohibition on voting a party out of government and a ban on an Opposition, guarantees the deadlock and dysfunctionalism we’ve suffered under the current Stormont regime. It’s so patently unworkable and undemocratic it doesn’t exist anywhere else, where the right to vote a party out of government and the right to have an Opposition are cornerstones of democracy.
“TUV is not opposed to shared government. With no party having majority support, coalition is inevitable, but to work it must be voluntary, not mandatory. The present Westminster government is just such a voluntary coalition, checked and balanced by a vibrant Official Opposition. After each election those able to agree a programme for government which can command the necessary majority in the Assembly should proceed to govern, with those outside fulfilling the vital role of Opposition and, very importantly, the voters able to change their government at the next election.
“This is the route to shared and workable government. It excludes no one who can muster the requisite majority in the Assembly. TUV, as is our democratic right and choice, would not be entering government with Sinn Fein, but if they can persuade others to voluntarily form a government with them then we will be the Opposition, but it they cannot then opposition is their role, with no special pleading or as of right places in government for anyone. If Sinn Fein are democrats so long as they are in government, they are not democrats at all.
“Voluntary coalition is not about disrespecting mandates, rather it is about ensuring all come with their mandate to the Assembly and those who with others can then command the necessary majority in the Assembly can and will govern on a programme agreed in advance. Thereby, unlike the present arrangements, government will work and deliver.
“This is the democratic way forward for which TUV will strive, not in the distant future, but NOW.”
