Statement by TUV Lagan Valley Assembly candidate Lorna Smyth:
“Last night it was brought to my attention that Robbie Butler, the deputy leader from a party that tells us they are all about a ‘Union of people’, accused TUV of “sucking the hope out of politics”. I don’t know how this helps further the UUP aim of a “Union of people” but it did get me thinking about the issues in this election.
“For some time Mr Butler has employed the hashtag “Hope not fear” in social media posts. The reality is that the UUP vision isn’t about changing any substantive but merely trying the same old failed system again and again. There is a growing realisation across all communities in Northern Ireland that our politics is fundamentally broken and that the problem lies at the heart of the system which we have been lumbered with for over 20 years. Why is it that the governments of Scotland, Wales and the national government in London don’t collapse every few years yet the last Assembly operated without an executive for two years and now we are going into an election without an Executive in place?
“The answer, of course, is because of mandatory coalition, the system which guarantees every sizeable party a place in government as of right and denies you, the voter, the right to two fundamentals of any democracy – the right to vote a party out of government and the right to have an opposition to hold government to account.
“In this election TUV is the only party going before the public not only proposing to get rid of the current system but proposing an alternative to it – a voluntary coalition of the willing with a weighted majority, where people have to be agreed about what they will do in government before they go in together or a system which would allow British Minimisers to govern Northern Ireland under the scrutiny of the Assembly with MLAs still having the power to introduce legislation by way of private members bills.
“We spell out these proposals in detail in our Path to Making Stormont Work document which can be read here https://tuv.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/TUV-Making-Stormont-Work-A5-Leaflet-3.pdf .
“While some might just talk about hope with TUV you can actually do much more – vote for change with a party committed to bringing it.”