“We tried your mandatory coalition, it doesn’t work..”

| Readers 19

If the current circumstances continue, Peter Robinson might just be tempted to take Jim Allister’s advice..

“The argument against voluntary coalition is “oh, you can’t have devolution without Sinn Fein in government”. Why not? Because, some whisper, we might go back to “the bad old days”. Who would take us there? Surely not those we are assured have given up violence for good? If Sinn Fein are only playing the role of democrats so long as they stay in government, then we are being blackmailed as well as conned! Now is the time for Peter Robinson to face reality and go to HMG and say, “We tried your mandatory coalition, it doesn’t work, will never work and if you want devolution in Northern Ireland, then it must be, as elsewhere, on the basis of voluntary coalition.”

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