YOUNG Unionist blogger Rick Cairns has laid his cards on the table and said the UUP should move into Opposition, attracting a fair amount of criticism in the process. However, the party appears to be keeping such a shift on the long finger.Cairns writes:
The UUP needs to gain the trust of the electorate that has been lost to the DUP since 1998. This can be done by offering a real alternative to the DUP-Sinn Fein coalition. The issue of power-sharing has been resolved; the UUP has repeatedly proven, and the DUP now has proven that unionists cannot be accused of ‘not wanting a Catholic about the place’.
The D’dondt system was always an interim measure to build confidence in the community to allow the politicians to share-power. The work begins now to move from mandatory to voluntary coalition; from collective to majority government. The first step in that journey is opposition. That is democracy. The one party slogan I agreed with in recent years I will reiterate now: Let’s get real.
Discover more from Slugger O'Toole
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
