President Hain?

Also in Washington, the UUP leader Reg Empey had breakfast at the National Press Club and argued that, according to the BBC report, The US and NI voters “are fast losing patience” with the inability of the parties and governments to restore devolution. But the interesting quotes are in the UTV report, again, were he’s reported as repeating his party’s call for an interim system where the Assembly sits while a team of British ministers runs government departments until full blown devolution returned, and he compares the proposal to the separation of powers in the United States between the Presidency, Congress and the judiciary.. unfortunately he fails to mention some trifling matters such as the Bill of Rights, the written constitution and that it would, in effect, elevate Peter Hain, or his successor, to.. President Hain..The quotes from the UTV report

The UUP leader said his party favoured an interim system where the Assembly sat with legislative and financial powers while a team of British ministers ran government departments until full blown devolution returned.

He compared their proposal to the separation of powers in the United States between the Presidency, Congress and the judiciary.

“In other words the Assembly would act like both Houses of Congress, passing legislation and providing the money for the Secretary of State and his ministers who will carry out agreed policies,” he said.

“Sound familiar? You are able to run the most powerful nation on earth with this system, why can we not run a small community in Northern Ireland?”

We are reader supported. Donate to keep Slugger lit!

For over 20 years, Slugger has been an independent place for debate and new ideas. We have published over 40,000 posts and over one and a half million comments on the site. Each month we have over 70,000 readers. All this we have accomplished with only volunteers we have never had any paid staff.

Slugger does not receive any funding, and we respect our readers, so we will never run intrusive ads or sponsored posts. Instead, we are reader-supported. Help us keep Slugger independent by becoming a friend of Slugger. While we run a tight ship and no one gets paid to write, we need money to help us cover our costs.

If you like what we do, we are asking you to consider giving a monthly donation of any amount, or you can give a one-off donation. Any amount is appreciated.