TUV Calls for Democracy Now
08 April 2013
Responding to the Assembly and Executive Review Committee’s review of D’Hondt; community designation and provisions for an Opposition TUV have demanded that Stormont be overhauled in order to make it a truly democratic institution.
Commenting on the review party leader Jim Allister said:
“There is nothing in the paper which has come from the Assembly and Executive Review Committee to suggest that the larger parties are interested in real change. Indeed, in paragraph 3.20 the entire committee – including the DUP members – meekly endorse the central architecture of the Belfast Agreement and indicate that they are only willing to consider minor cosmetic adjustments.
“TUV, on the other hand, has again made it clear that the present arrangements are in need of a fundamental overhaul. They were established in the current form as a reward for terrorism. That is the reason for the absurd mechanism of mandatory coalition, whereby IRA/Sinn Fein is guaranteed a place in government for as long as it takes them to achieve their all Ireland Republic. Because of mandatory coalition, Northern Ireland is the only region in the EU where the voter is prohibited by law from voting a Party out of office.
“For any system to work and give durable and workable government it must restore respect for the fundamental democratic imperatives of the electorate being permitted to change their government - which d’Hondt denies - and being permitted to have within the Assembly an Official Opposition.
“Committees, which are all controlled by executive parties, are not an adequate substitute for an Opposition. As S29 (1) (a) of the 1998 Northern Ireland Act makes clear, the job of committees is to “advise and assist” Ministers, not hold them to account.
“As anywhere else, parties who can agree negotiating a coalition, after an election, and those that can command the requisite majority in the Assembly form the government and the rest become a vibrant Opposition, offering an alternative government at the next election. This is how standard democracy works. If other Unionist parties want to partner IRA/Sinn Fein in government, then let them do it openly and honestly, instead of hiding behind mandatory coalition.
“No party can be allowed a veto on government. If Sinn Fein is only operating the system so long as they are guaranteed a place in government, then we are being blackmailed as well as conned.
“In our submission we also outlined our opposition to community designation as we believe that it institutionalises sectarianism. It should be scraped and that all MLAs – including those who choose not to define themselves as “Unionist” or “Nationalist” – should have equal voting power in the Assembly.
“Similarly, we are opposed to Petitions of Concern. They are a perverse instrument which is open to abuse, a fact which was graphically illustrated when one was used to block an amendment to the Justice Bill which would have prevented abortions being carried out outside of the National Health Service.”
Among the other points made in TUV’s submission were:
- In keeping with standard practice elsewhere, the Chair of the Public Accounts Committee should be filled by an MLA from outside the government parties;
- It is essential that non-executive parties are guaranteed additional time to raise and debate non-Executive business in the Assembly — including priority speaking rights in response to Ministerial Statements and in Question Time;
- The current arrangements – where frequently only the voice of government MLAs is heard in debates even on vital issues such as the Programme for Government – is manifestly unfair and undemocratic;
- Currently opposition MLAs find it almost impossible to get anything on the Assembly Order Paper. The fact that the Business Committee is comprised exclusively of MLAs from the governing parties means that the voice of opposition and proper scrutiny is frustrated by the cabal of self-interested executive parties - even the modest proposition of a “technical group” was rejected by the DUP and Sinn Fein in the Procedures Committee and
- While financial assistance should be allocated to Opposition parties in proportion to how many elected MLAs they have, the absence of such financial assistance should not be used as a rather mercenary excuse for parties to remain in an executive where, in truth, they have very little influence.
