alliance

In The Arena; Some of our departing MLAs

David McCann on March 16, 2016, 3:14 pm

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The current 2011-2016 Assembly mandate is over and now we are getting into election mode. However, before we get into thinking about the next Assembly, I wanted to pause for a moment to reflect on the one that has just passed and some of the people departing from it. Out of the current 108 MLAs, 16 are standing down at this election. That doesn’t include MLAs like Pat Ramsey, Conall McDevitt, Joe Byrne, Neil Somerville and Sue Ramsay who all …

Brian Wilson to stand as independent in North Down #ae16

Alan Meban (Alan in Belfast) on March 10, 2016, 1:48 pm

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VETERAN RETURNS – Former Alliance (and independent) councillor and former Green Party leader Brian Wilson is stepping back into politics and standing as an independent candidate in North Down in a move that will disappoint both the Green Party and Alliance.

Are Hustings a massive waste of time during elections?

David McCann on March 9, 2016, 2:01 pm

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I was part of a short segment from Chris Page on BBC Newsline looking at the issue of election hustings. I have seen hustings from both an organisers point of view and somebody who has sat in the audience. For most organisers they are hugely stressful and time consuming, for an audience member they can be a chance to learn about a candidate or they can be incredibly frustrating as candidates struggle/avoid answering questions, plus for some of the more …

Mr Eastwood; Your task this weekend if you choose to accept it

David McCann on March 9, 2016, 11:39 am

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In Westminster they say being leader of the opposition is the worst job in British politics, if we were to extend the metaphor to Northern Ireland, then being the SDLP leader must be one of the worst jobs in Stormont. Think about it for a moment, your party has just come out of a leadership contest and electorally you’re down in the dumps. This is Colum Eastwood’s inheritance and the task he faces to turn this ship around. His first …

Interview with David Ford: “don’t bother summoning the men in grey suits, just tell me”

Alan Meban (Alan in Belfast) on February 29, 2016, 7:30 am

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TELL ME when it’s time to go says Alliance leader David Ford. In this interview with Slugger he talks about Alliance’s electoral appeal, new parties in NI, switching to use council areas for Assembly constituencies, taking Executive meetings out on the road, the balance of funding between prison and community/probation services, joined up working across the Executive, Alliance’s approach to the Justice Ministry after May’s election, public and political support for refugees and asylum seekers in NI, and his thoughts on the Irish election and the impact of the EU referendum on the Assembly campaign.

Fatal Foetal Abnormality Amendment falls 59 to 40.

David McCann on February 11, 2016, 8:38 am

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Late last night the Assembly voted down an amendment proposed by Stewart Dickson and Trevor Lunn to allow a termination in the case of fatal foetal abnormality. Here is a link so you can seek how each MLA voted on this issue, but here are some interesting votes. In terms of party leaders, Arlene Foster, Colum Eastwood and Jim Allister all voted no. Martin McGuinness, Steven Agnew, David Ford and Mike Nesbitt voted for the amendment. Only the DUP (against) and …

Belfast City Council votes for a 1.48% increase

David McCann on February 1, 2016, 8:18 pm

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Belfast City Council tonight has agreed for the first time in four years to increase district rates by 1.48%. The council has for years made efficiencies of £20 million since 2006 and has set a target of £2 million a year for until 2019. The council says that the effect on ratepayers will be small arguing that on average the increase represents; 33p per month more for a terraced house. 50p for a three bedroom semi-detached house. £1.12p for four …

The Executive goes on the road….to Arlene and Martin’s hometowns.

David McCann on January 28, 2016, 3:14 pm

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ON THE ROAD AGAIN: It was announced today that the new Executive is set to go on the road for the first time and meet outside of Belfast. First up on the Executive’s road show is Fermanagh (home of the First Minister) and Derry (home of the Deputy First Minister).
These type of things happen in the UK, where the cabinet takes trips outside of London to see the other regions of the UK, yet I am not totally sure what is really achieved by doing this.

Budget passes but two Executive parties oppose it.

David McCann on January 19, 2016, 9:11 pm

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SHOW ME THE MONEY: The Budget has passed the Assembly with a vote of 62 for, with 30 against. The DUP and Sinn Fein voted for the budget with Alliance, SDLP, UUP, TUV, Greens, Basil McCrea, John McCallister and Claire Sugden voting against.

Almost 30% of MLAs not seeking re-election

David McCann on December 23, 2015, 2:22 pm

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A really interesting article by Sam McBride in the News Letter today highlight the number of MLAs standing down at the next election. In his piece McBride points out; Almost 30 per cent of MLAs elected in the last Assembly election are not even standing for election next year – and the turnover in Assembly politicians could end up being as high as 40 per cent. But goes on to say; On top of that, several MLAs who stand for …

Ford: People give more consideration to their family’s Christmas budget than the Executive gave to Northern Ireland’s budget

David McCann on December 17, 2015, 3:47 pm

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OPPOSITION FROM WITH IN: As Arlene Foster prepares to leave the Department of Finance, Alliance had a little parting gift for her on the day she becomes DUP. Following a meeting of the Executive, party leader, David Ford announced that both Stephen Farry and himself, voted against the budget before the Executive.

Belfast City Council vote to record Planning Committee meetings.

David McCann on December 2, 2015, 11:44 am

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OPEN GOVERNMENT? This issue has been a hotly debated topic since the new Belfast super council was elected in May 2014 and has come before council no less than three times.

However, last night the council voted by the slimmest of margins 28 for to 27 against to allow planning committee meetings to be recorded and made available to the public. The proposal was brought by the Alliance party.

Is it time to reduce the number of our MLAs?

David McCann on November 22, 2015, 11:20 pm

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CUTTING THE MLAS: Tomorrow the Assembly will debate this motion brought forward by the Alliance party. The party claims that if this measure is introduced by the next election that it could see a saving of £11 million over the course of the next assembly term.

A Deal Today?

David McCann on November 17, 2015, 10:42 am

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This in from the BBC Political Editor, Mark Devenport hints that we may have a deal but not as comprehensive as some might like; Expectation that politicians may press ahead without resolving legacy issues and welfare cld be dealt with Westminster leg consent motion — Mark Devenport (@markdevenport) November 17, 2015 The SDLP leader, Colum Eastwood had this to say about a possible deal today The SDLP has a high standard for any outcome in this process. After so much …

A Little Perspective on the Spat at Stormont

Patricia MacBride on September 3, 2015, 10:29 pm

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On a day when the front page of most of the newspapers on these islands carried a heart-wrenching photograph of a little boy drowned on a Turkish beach, we really need to catch ourselves on and make sure our politicians do likewise. Like Jude Collins, I heard PSNI Chief Constable George Hamilton on the news setting out that the IRA does not exist as a paramilitary organisation and that its members are pursuing their goals through exclusively peaceful means. You …

34 bills in four and a half years; Example of a “Do Nothing” Executive?

David McCann on August 31, 2015, 2:14 pm

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It is now pretty much seen as very likely that our government will fall at some point in the next few months. In this fit of pessimism I thought I would take a look back at the record of this Assembly since it was elected back in May 2011. I must confess the Irish News political correspondent, John Manley back in March 2013 did take a look at this and found that the Assembly had passed just 11 bills in …

Now Westminster is settled, here’s all the other unsettling business NI politicians need to get back to

Alan Meban (Alan in Belfast) on May 9, 2015, 3:35 pm

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It’s back to work on Monday for our local politicians. There’ll be no commission on the union (though David Cameron should now outright reject the idea), no extra £1 billion of cash, and no immediate possibility of bargaining for the 45 ideas in the DUP’s plan. Though over the next parliamentary term there are sure to be plenty of tight votes in which The Northern Ireland Plan can come out of Nigel Dodds’ back pocket and be used as bargaining …

Marriage Equality motion fails in the Assembly

David McCann on April 27, 2015, 11:50 pm

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Today the Assembly narrowly rejected a Sinn Fein motion on Marriage Equality 47 votes in favour to 49 against. Three Alliance MLAs abstained and five SDLP MLAs did not turn up for the vote (I understand one had a family bereavement.) Of the 53 Unionists who voted just four supported the motion (Danny Kinahan, Basil McCrea, Claire Sugden and John McCallister). In speaking about the motion and the DUPs petition of concern, the Sinn Fein MLA for Newry & Armagh, …

Slugger Verdict: Ranking the PEBs of #GE2015

David McCann on April 21, 2015, 10:18 pm

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Well, it’s back for the 2015 General Election, the party election broadcast awards. This seemed to go down well last year. So, in that spirit I thought I would bring together another panel of judges to rank each of the party election broadcasts. The other judges were MCE Public Relations Director, Chris Brown and the host of the Profit Margin, Jim Fitzpatrick. Each of us ranked the PEBs out of 10, we then combined the scores to get an overall …

PEB Report: Alliance on money, DUP on NI, and the SDLP’s fresh faces

Mick Fealty on April 2, 2015, 3:25 pm

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I don’t propose doing a single and comprehensive rundown of all the party PEBs this election, but I will pick up on bunches of them as they go [flying] past. Alliance have had one out before the official campaign began, and it is just as slick in presentation as we have come to expect from them. Necessarily it focuses on their one seat they have to defend. Openness and transparency, and ending double jobbing and pushing out the work of …