The Progressive Unionist Party leader Dawn Purvis has called on the DUP and Sinn Féin to be mature enough "to agree to disagree" on difficult issues and then get on with real politics.
Ms Purvis, addressing the PUP annual conference at the Stormont Hotel, Belfast, on Saturday - her first conference as leader and first since the death of David Ervine - said people must remain conscious of what had been achieved in Northern Ireland, and the PUP's role in that positive political transformation.
She said that policies that had been espoused by the party and by its late leader Mr Ervine were now being enacted, with the former anti-powersharing DUP central to the process. This, she added, prompted her to suggest that that the DUP should be called "the PUP for slow learners".
Furthermore, there was no united Ireland and republicans were "sitting in Stormont administering British rule in Northern Ireland as part of the United Kingdom".
Ms Purvis said that while the picture of First Minister Ian Paisley and Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness getting on well together gave rise to the description of them as "the Chuckle Brothers" she could live with that surprising image.
"That's okay. I, like many of you in the room, am glad to see it, especially if it means no more conflict and the chance of a better future."
She queried however how Dr Paisley, Mr McGuinness and the Northern Executive could deal with difficult, potentially divisive issues such as the appointment of a victims' commissioner, academic selection, integrated education and the proposed Irish Language Act.
"We need to see the parties disagree over decisions taken by ministers and we need to see them being mature enough to move on to the next issue," she said.
"Fall out and make up. It happens in all good marriages and the DUP/Sinn Féin union is no different," she added.
Ms Purvis characterised the DUP/Sinn Féin/Ulster Unionist Party/SDLP executive as "green and orange Tories" who were more concerned with economic rather than social issues.
"There is little sign of disadvantage and inequality being tackled," she said.
"The finance minister [Peter Robinson] has indicated that the economy is his priority, not social issues. I see no sign from other ministers that they disagree with him.
"It all comes down to a conservative notion that employment is the best means to lift people out of poverty. Laudable, I am sure, but it doesn't work alone," added Ms Purvis.
Referring to the first and forthcoming budget to be implemented by the Executive, she warned that a "budget that does not invest in education and health and social services to seriously tackle disadvantage and inequalities, but focuses solely on the economy, will have a detrimental affect on those already worse off".
Ms Purvis said the UVF and the Red Hand Commando, which are linked to the PUP, were honouring their May undertaking to move away from paramilitarism.
"Many people in both organisations are working diligently to realise their commitment and no one should underestimate how difficult a job that is," she said.
Ms Purvis called for an end to academic selection, for a criminal justice system that tackled recidivism, for an improved health service and for the extension of the 1967 British Abortion Act to Northern Ireland.
While just some 80 people attended Saturday's conference party organisers said more people were joining the PUP.
Ms Purvis told delegates that the best tribute that could be paid to David Ervine was "to prioritise this party, make it bigger, stronger, better and tackle the issues that affect our working class".
The conference passed motions calling for affordable housing, proposing how restorative justice could provide "genuine rehabilitation" for offenders, urging party training for new and existing members, and opposing the teaching of creationism or intelligent design as science.
