WESTMINSTER 2010: Northern Ireland elections:TRADITIONAL UNIONIST Voice (TUV) leader Jim Allister will press the next British government to change the law that could facilitate Sinn Féin's Martin McGuinness becoming first minister at Stormont.
The TUV leader used his party’s manifesto launch yesterday to make clear he could not support any British party leader for prime minister unless the St Andrews Agreement measure was reversed.
As a result of St Andrews the position of first minister goes to the largest party, which could be Sinn Féin after the next Assembly election. Prior to that, under the Belfast Agreement, the post was most likely to be held by a unionist under rules which required Assembly members to designate themselves “unionist”, “nationalist” or “other”.
Mr Allister said this change was “a top line issue”.
“That is the reversal of the monstrous decision in the change of the law which allows McGuinness to be first minister. The repeal of [the measure] is a pre-requisite for my vote in the parliament of the UK.
“I believe it should be a prerequisite for every unionist if they are serious in their dismay at the prospect of IRA/Sinn Féin . . . conquering the first minister’s office which they were in connivance to give to them in the first place.”
Mr Allister’s manifesto places strong emphasis on what he calls “probity in public office” and it is critical of MPs having more than one mandate, poor Westminster attendance and the expenses controversy.
The manifesto states that unionists “wearied and dismayed by the greed and self-indulgence of double-jobbing, the Robinson scandal and the expenses scandal” may decide not to vote. “But it is only by not voting against those who have so besmirched politics that you can best make your point and help put things right.”
Mr Allister called for the abolition of what he called the “mandatory coalition” system at Stormont which has led to the current five-party coalition and the absence of a formal opposition in the Assembly.
He called for a voluntary power-sharing model which excludes Sinn Féin. “It should be provided in primary legislation that no one with a terrorist conviction can ever hold ministerial office,” the manifesto states.
Much of the manifesto is taken up with criticism of Mr Allister’s former party, the Democratic Unionist Party, and its role in government since opting to share power with Sinn Féin in 2007.
Mr Allister reserved particular ire for the decision to vote for the transfer of policing and justice powers and commended the Ulster Unionists for voting against the measure.
The TUV, which is fielding 10 candidates across the North, accused the DUP of voting to “empower republicanism on policing and justice” and doing so because of “the sordid deal they’d done with IRA/Sinn Féin killers of policemen and judges”.
Traditional Unionist Voice Manifesto Main Points
- An end to "mandatory coalition" at Stormont.
- No "terrorists" in government.
- Repeal of legislation to enable a Sinn Féin first minister.
- A flat rate of tax.
- Cuts in public spending to reduce the UK spending deficit.
- Opposition to a Northern Ireland Bill of Rights.
- Support for Small and Medium Enterprises.
- Reversing the loss of British sovereignty to the EU.