Jim Allister: At this crossroads moment unionism can turn away from a Stormont that Sinn Fein will never allow to give good government

The very disappointing outcome in key seats in Northern Ireland requires both a retrospective and prospective examination by unionism.

Though it is no comfort, no one can blame TUV because we stayed out of these elections, other than actively supporting the single unionist candidate in the battleground seats of Fermanagh South Tyrone and North Belfast.

In retrospect a question which must be asked is whether, when unionism through the DUP held an unparalleled position of power at Westminster, 2017-19, that power was used to the best advantage. The focus on the financial, rather than the political lacked strategic planning.

At a time when Stormont was in disarray, the opportunity to force systemic change, by tackling the cancer of mandatory coalition, was not taken. Instead, the constant repetition of ‘no red lines’ in returning to the failure of Stormont wasted the spectacular opportunity afforded to the DUP in the hung parliament to force Stormont reform.

The absurdity and unworkability of the Stormont system is obvious: if this system applied at Westminster, then, despite his victory, Boris Johnston could not be prime minister, but only joint PM with Jeremy Corbyn and the SNP and Liberal Democrat’s would be entitled as of right to be in government. No comment is needed on how absurd and unworkable that would be. Yet, that is Stormont! Tragically, the DUP did nothing to even try to change that in their years of control in Parliament.

Thus, now, unionism is faced with the added humiliation of returning, concessions in hand, to a broken Stormont which Sinn Fein will never permit to bring good government, because their overriding goal is not to settle Northern Ireland within the UK, but to force its exit. In that Stormont is but a tool and to Sinn Fein it is a reception class for an all-Ireland completion of ‘the process’.

In its prospective examination, unionism, I believe, needs to return to the core value of what unionism is about ‘One Crown, One Parliament, One People’, not the short-termism of power, any power, in a Stormont which has become a spectacle of failure and weakness — a veritable trap.

For me, British Rule is preferable to Sinn Fein Rule. Undoubtedly it will have its discomforts, but not the inevitable destruction that Sinn Fein rule holds.

So, now is a time for unionism to recalibrate and re-embrace the equal citizenship that its founders expounded. This crossroads moment will see unionism reaffirm its reason d’etre or transition along the Belfast Agreement path of all-Ireland absorption.

Jim Allister, TUV leader