Reacting to an article in the Guardian in which DUP deputy leader Nigel Dodds spells out what his party would look for in the event of a hung Parliament TUV South Antrim candidate Richard Cairns said:
“There are two things which are clear from Nigel Dodds’s article.
“Firstly, he spells out very clearly that the DUP are “committed” to terrorist inclusive government at Stormont and will be making no demand to change mandatory coalition.
“Stormont, as events of recent days have shown, remains “unfit for purpose” and yet the DUP are not demanding any changes to reform the system and bring true democracy to Northern Ireland.
“Any true Unionist party should have as a primary demand the democratisation of Stormont so that voters in Northern Ireland have the same rights as voters in Scotland and Wales – the right to have an opposition and equally importantly the right to vote a party or a government out of office.
“Remember – Mr Dodds was only able to write this article because voters across the UK have the opportunity to remove the current government and replace it with another one. Voters in Northern Ireland should have that same basic democratic right and it should be THE basic demand of all Unionists. It can only be rectified by Westminster so why are the DUP, who claim to want the democratisation of Stormont, not demanding it?
“Instead Mr Dodds hails the Stormont House Agreement as evidence that Stormont is working. One can only assume that he wrote the article before Monday!
“Equally telling is the absence of any demand for a referendum on EU membership.
“Just as the DUP have gone soft on terrorists governing Northern Ireland they have gone soft on Brussels dictating to the UK and meddling in all of our lives.
“The issues are now clear. Only by voting TUV in the upcoming election will people be able to send a clear message that we cannot go on with crisis after crisis due to a failed and unworkable form of devolution. Similarly TUV is clear that we need an immediate referendum on EU membership and we would be better off out!”
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/mar/11/tories-labour-democratic-unionist-support