Empey seeks talks with Executive party leaders
AN emergency meeting of the leaders of the four parties of government was called for last night by Sir Reg Empey amid the deepening rift in the Stormont Executive.
The Ulster Unionist leader tabled the idea, as he also claimed that before many Executive meetings the DUP and Sinn Fein go into a separate meeting "to discuss their agreed approach to the agenda", leaving the UUP and SDLP ministers to wait for them.
ISSUES
DUP Finance Minister Peter Robinson has said the UUP and SDLP have every chance to raise their voices at the Executive and make objections known on issues like the draft Programme for Government (PfG) and the draft budget, which they are now questioning.
But he claimed "there was not a squeak" in Cabinet when they were debated.
DUP MP Sammy Wilson said "the root of the Ulster Unionist Party's opposition to the draft PfG is simply that the party is no longer the main pro-Union voice in Northern Ireland and an immaterial entity in UK politics".
Sir Reg spoke out as the war of words at the heart of government intensified over the framework for running the country over the next three years.
The Ulster Unionists and SDLP have opposed aspects of the plans. They claim there is, in reality, no four-party coalition, but a two-party pact between the DUP and Sinn Fein who run the country based on behind-closed-door deals and their electoral strength and do not attempt to reach consensus.
RELATIONSHIP
Both Mr Robinson and Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness have rubbished these suggestions. They said the UUP and SDLP cannot take the fact that they are no longer the big parties and the DUP and Sinn Fein are working well together.
They variously have accused the UUP and the SDLP of threatening to bring down the government and of being "problem parties".
Sir Reg said: "Government is working, but it is not working based on a four-party coalition and consensus decision-making as it was designed to and did – albeit in difficult circumstances – between 1999 and 2002.
"We cannot operate in a system whereby Peter (Robinson) attempts to threaten and bully us because we do not agree with all that he says. He wants everyone in the Assembly to not question him or the Executive and just put their hand up to the PfG and budget in some sort of Soviet-style congress.
"What sort of democracy is that? If we do not reach a consensus in the Executive it is less likely the Assembly will agree what the Executive brings to it.
"I think the leaders of the four main parties need to sit down and talk about the situation. We have not met as leaders since May 8 (the restoration of devolution) which goes to show how much of a coalition it is. It isn't!"
Sir Reg added: "Not always, but more often than not, the DUP and Sinn Fein go into Ian Paisley's office before Executive meetings to discuss their agreed approach to the agenda and leave myself, Michael (McGimpsey) and Margaret (Ritchie) sitting waiting. On one occasion it was as long as half-an-hour."
He claimed: "Any other coalition in the world would break down in such circumstances."
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Weather for Belfast
Saturday 11 February 2012
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