“Now it seems that Sinn Fein is realising how badly exposed its negotiators left it to accusations of a sell-out.”

In today’s Irish News John Manley does everyone a favour by identifying Sinn Fein’s problem with the agreement they signed up to in December. The nub of the problem appears to lie in the figures contained in the Stormont Castle Agreement, an agreement within an agreement negotiated between the five parties days before the final accord was signed off on December 23. In annex A of this sub-agreement, the figures for the planned welfare safety net are outlined. It earmarks …

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Calling All Politicos: Pick your fantasy NI Executive

For most reading  this blog this will be the type of transfers you’ll be interested in. For just a few minutes imagine you’re the First Minister and you get to choose an Executive. Choices must be from within the current Assembly and sure we will use the new departments, Department for Communities Department for the Economy Department of Education Department of Health Department for Infrastructure Department of Justice Department of Finance Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs. My picks …

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West Belfast Business Breakfast: Making small changes day by day.

This morning I ventured over to a business breakfast in West Belfast hosted by local entrepreneur, Gerry Carlile.The event which had nearly 100 people in attendance was kicked off by the local MP, Paul Maskey who preached the need for more investment in West Belfast and cited success stories like the Kennedy Centre which operates at full capacity. The Sinn Fein MP also spoke of his relief that the Executive decided to retain the funding for St. Mary’s which he …

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The Social Media Canvass

Well they are all out of the traps as we go into March. If like me you follow a lot of politicians and activists your Facebook and Twitter news feeds have been swamped with pictures of lots of happy people taking selfies, delivering leaflets and telling us how the great people of this place love their candidates  (my thanks to those of you who have stopping using the “great night on the doors” line). However,  a few things I have …

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You can’t mistake ideology – the way MPs talk, the way that they walk

With the unprecedented closeness and unpredictability of the next general election, there has been a lot of speculation about which parties may be able to do business together in the event of coalition negotiations, following another hung parliament. The SNP have ruled out the possibility of doing a deal with the Conservatives, but what other parties look like they may be able to do a deal based on the way that they vote? With potentially 10 or more seats in …

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Jonathan Bell: I will bring a campaign to South Belfast like “you have never seen”

On Wednesday night the DUP’s newly minted candidate for South Belfast launched his campaign to become the new MP for South Belfast. In the middle of all hustle and bustle of the Four Winds I caught up with the candidate, Junior Minister, Jonathan Bell. To start with I wanted to know why the DUP thought that South Belfast was so ripe for change? Bell told me that when you look at the last local election results it is clear that …

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SDLP: No to a head to head but would consider a more inclusive debate

This whole issue started two weeks ago when the Sinn Fein candidate for South Belfast, Máirtín Ó Muilleoir asked for a debate with the sitting MP Alasdair McDonnell. It is my understanding that the DUP Candidate, Jonathan Bell is also game for a debate. However the key question is what about the sitting MP? Speaking to Slugger an SDLP spokesperson tonight said; The SDLP has received no formal invitation to participate in any debate in South Belfast. While we would …

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Perscription Charges Consultation: Is Wells biting the bullet?

The Health Minister, Jim Wells rose in the Assembly today to announce a consultation on the funding of certain prescription drugs. The Minister, calmly and in a very affable manner set out the difficulties his department faces in funding drugs to combat cancer. Wells argued that he is in an impossible position with increasing costs on one side and increasing demand on the other forcing him to make more and more difficult decisions in the area of what drug the …

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Unionist Pact still possible

The saga of whether or not there will be a unionist pact continues with Mike Nesbitt suggesting that he may still be open to an agreement. He stated: “Without a deal, without an understanding there is a real prospect there could be no unionist representing the capital city of Northern Ireland in Westminster on the 8th May,” he said. “With a deal, who knows? Maybe three of the four could be unionist but they can’t all be DUP.” The seats …

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[Updated] Sinn Féin behaves like the Tories in North and talks like Syriza in the Republic

To be fair, I nicked that headline from Derek Mooney, a former FF special advisor, so there is an evident and intended spin to it. And yet it contains more than just a grain of truth to it. Having nearly collapsed the Assembly [Aye right! – Ed] Sinn Fein accepted the outline of a deal it had originally co-produced with the DUP with very little clear detail on what extra money would be forthcoming. Courtesy of Gerry Moriarty in the Irish Times, Martin McGuinness …

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What now, and where now for a Unionist electoral pact?

Late last night the news broke that the DUP have selected Jonathan Bell MLA to stand in South Belfast in the coming election whilst today the Ulster Unionist Party will announce Cllr Chris McGimpsey as their East Belfast candidate. These actions have been deemed by the media to mean an end to the pact negotiations between Mike Nesbitt and Peter Robinson. Should this suggestion be true it places Unionism is a much weakened position going into May. In my previous …

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Does the Bell toll for Unionist unity in Belfast?

A bit of a surprise announcement tonight from the DUP .@jonathanfbell will be our candidate in S Belfast. With your help he can win. Every seat will count in the next HoC. pic.twitter.com/AAwlOLDxpV — Peter Robinson (@DUPleader) February 10, 2015 Bell who represents the Strangford constituency has been nominated to either focus the UUPs mind that time is really running out or have they possibly made the calculation that they might be able to unseat McDonnell without a unity candidate? …

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Hoist on his own petard……

Curious, wasn’t it? Nelson McCausland’s choice of language to highlight his ‘concern’ over a letter sent to primary school principals throughout Northern Ireland, inviting them to consider including an Irish language study programme in the school curriculum. According to Nelson, this was another effort by Sinn Féin to “weaponise” the Irish language and to use it as a tool, it seems, to entice unionists to be assimilated within an Irish identity. Apart from the fact that the letter was sent …

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Launching your election campaign with a bang.

Well we have just three months to go until Election Day. Candidates and parties will be launching their campaigns for the Westminster election and will be attempting to set the tone for the campaign to come. Yet, despite this being a golden opportunity for you to set out your stall amongst the party faithful many parties either don’t invest in these types of events or just do them badly. Being the public service that we are here on Slugger I …

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East Belfast: Is this the start of the Long goodbye for Naomi?

Today LucidTalk published their East Belfast poll in the Belfast Telegraph. The poll found that the DUP holds a  6% lead over the Alliance party in the constituency making them the favorites as we go into the final three months of the election campaign. When you exclude undecideds the result is DUP-34.4% to Alliance- 28.7%. When you include don’t know/Non voters you get this; DUP- 21.2% APNI- 17.7% UUP- 9% PUP- 4% TUV- 1.7% SF- 1.1% UKIP- 1% Greens- 0.9% …

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A history lesson from Ruth Patterson

During this week’s Belfast City Council debate on the placing of the Union Flag on driving licences (something that the council has absolutely no control over), firebrand DUP Councillor Ruth Patterson decided to enlighten all those present with her interpretation of history and how it relates to the vexed subject of ‘flegs’. Scholars may be somewhat alarmed by Councillor Patterson’s interpretation of history as indeed may some of her creationist colleagues in the DUP who subscribe to the view that …

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Is no DUP in the TV debates good for Northern Ireland’s image?

If I understand him rightly, Newton Emerson in the Sunday Times (£) regrets the absence (subject to expensive  legal action if it happens, which I doubt) of the Northern Ireland parties from the UK national TV election debates – if they finally happen. What Newton regrets tongue in cheek is the absence of a national airing of all sorts of vigorous DUP opinions of the subjects of race, immigration, private lives, confessional beliefs etc that put UKIP in the shade. Who …

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YouGov’s Peter Kellner: The DUP unlikely to hold the balance of power but could be influential

The President of one of the UK’s most reputable polling companies YouGov, Peter Kellner, was in Belfast at an event hosted by Chambre Public Affairs and Lucid Talk. I began by asking him what we should be looking out for at this point in the parliamentary year? Kellner highlighted a few things to watch out for. Can either Labour or the Conservatives break the dead lock that they are currently facing in the polls? Over the last few months both …

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Do we really need another debate about flags?

Tonight our esteemed elected representatives in the Northern Ireland Assembly are due to debate driving licences. Good news – I hear you cry – at last some action may be taken to address the disparity in the cost of driving licences between Northern Ireland and Great Britain. Last week there was much consternation when it was revealed that learner drivers in Northern Ireland pay nearly twice the price for a provisional licence compared to elsewhere in the UK – £62.50 …

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Forecasting the 2015 UK General Election

CON 252, LAB 231, SNP 52, LD 41, UKIP 38,  DUP 9, GRN 9, PC 8, SF 6, SDLP 2, Independent 1, Speaker 1 Required for majority: 322 (CON 70 short, LAB 91 short) The upcoming UK General Election has been called “the most unpredictable for almost a century”. There are several reasons for this; the rise of UKIP, the Greens, and the SNP, the collapse of the Liberal Democrats, who nevertheless seem to maintain highly localized popularity in areas where they have sitting MPs, and the fact that Labour and the Conservatives are going in to the election essentially on level pegging. …

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