Statement by TUV leader Jim Allister:
“There will only be a deal if the DUP are prepared to make enough concessions to placate IRA/Sinn Fein.
“The DUP have no red lines. Sinn Fein have lots of red lines. If there is going to be a deal it is going to be on the basis of the DUP conceding to Sinn Fein. That is the question in these talks – are the DUP prepared to humiliate themselves by rolling over to Sinn Fein in order to save their jobs in Stormont?
“They have tried it already and twice the military commanders who control Sinn Fein have turned down the deal with the DUP. Is the DUP prepared to give even more to satisfy the Army Council? What a shameful point to have reached in a democratic society.
“Sinn Fein are playing the politics of ransom. Because of the absurd position where you cannot form a government without Sinn Fein they can hold others ransom to their terms if they want to see a government. To pay that price would be shameful and to the detriment of the Union and Unionism. Not only that but it would only guarantee that there would be further ransom demands because, as someone once put it, once you feed the crocodile they come back for more.”