Statement by TUV leader Jim Allister:
“As Stormont heads towards its latest crisis it is worth remembering that devolution in Northern Ireland can only survive so long as Sinn Fein/IRA wants it to.
“At any point Republicans can call time on this Stormont just as Gerry Adams threatened at the weekend.
“Such a setup – at the mercy of a party which wants to destroy the state – can never bring us good government and will inevitably lurch from one crisis to the next.
“Let’s be clear. Both main parties in Stormont are led by individuals who are accused of things which should see them investigated by Public Inquiries. The allegations against McGuinness are MUCH more serious. His alleged knowledge of and role in the multiple atrocities during the Troubles should render him subject to such an inquiry. That is a key reason why TUV has always believed that Sinn Fein/IRA should not be in the government of our Province.
“However, because you partner people who are the dregs of society like McGuinness and Kelly does not render you exempt from accountability. It doesn’t mean that you can literally send millions in taxpayer’s money up in smoke without consequences. Anyone who defends Mrs Foster based not on objective facts about her own conduct as a Minister but by comparing her with those she chooses to share power with needs to seriously question the political wisdom and the morality of her sharing power with those people in the first place.
“It’s time to move on and put the failures and deadlock of Belfast Agreement style devolution behind us.
“Clinging endlessly to the failure of mandatory coalition is not serving Northern Ireland well. The perpetual cycle of crisis, then sticking plaster talks, before lurching to crisis again, is destroying the body politic and public confidence in it. It is time for fresh thinking.
“The key to preventing the collapse of the present failed Stormont meaning the end of devolution is to salvage that which has worked and jettison that which has failed.
“By its nature devolution embraces two distinct aspects: legislative devolution (exercised by the Assembly) and executive devolution (exercised by ministers). Analysis of the failure of the present Stormont throws up the obvious conclusion that it is the dimension of executive devolution which has failed.
“Legislative devolution has been reasonably successful, both in processing such Bills as have been presented, including Private Member’s Bills, and in performing the scrutiny function through its committees.
“Thus, in moving forward, there may be merit in building on what has succeeded, by preserving legislative devolution, while giving time for executive devolution to evolve into something workable.
“The practical outworking of such an approach would be that the elected Assembly would be preserved as the legislature for transferred Northern Ireland matters, along with its important scrutiny function, but without a local executive. Executive functions would be exercised by British ministers, but with the vital distinction from the past that they would be accountable to the Assembly and their legislative programme would pass, not through Westminster, but through the Stormont Assembly.
“In practice how such would work is that the British ministers would introduce their legislation to the Assembly, it would pass through the normal processes of second stage, committee state, consideration stage and final stage, before being signed off by the Secretary of State and given Royal Assent by Her Majesty.
“Individual MLAs would continue to have unfettered opportunity to introduce Private Member’s Bills.
“As for the British ministers exercise of executive functions, these would be subject to all the scrutiny powers of the Assembly and its statutory committees, with their powers to command witnesses and papers.”