Statement by TUV leader, Jim Allister:-
“The much vaunted Stormont House Agreement promised in paragraph 59 that “by March 2015” arrangements would be put in place for the facility of an Official Opposition.
“March 2015 is all but gone, but nothing has appeared. Just another con, it seems.
“I serve on the Procedures Committee, which would have to process any Standing Order changes. At every meeting since the Stormont House Agreement I have asked about progress and where are the proposals for an Opposition. At every meeting there has been nothing to report.
“So, not only was the supposed agreement on welfare a fiction, but, so too, it seems was the sincerity attaching to any promise to provide for an opposition.
“More and more, it seems, the Stormont House Agreement was a publicity stunt, designed as mere sticking plaster for the crisis of the moment. Three months on, what has it produced? Nothing.
“Of course, it never even sought to tackle the root and branch change essential to democratise Stormont. Nor, interestingly, is the DUP even minded to exploit the opportunity of a hung parliament to extract meaningful change at Stormont. The truth is that all the executive parties are content and comfortable with the mangling of democracy that is mandatory coalition, for it is the hand that feeds them ministerial salaries.
“Only TUV takes the robust and principled stand against the perversion of democracy that operates in this failing Stormont.”