It was wrong for Sinn Fein to hold Northern Ireland to ransom, as it is for the DUP

In May, I, along with others went out and voted for an MLA.

Once again we have a situation where one party holds the country to ransom by not taking their seats on the Northern Ireland Executive.

It was wrong when Sinn Fein did it and it’s wrong now the DUP are doing it.

My own view is that Jeffrey Donaldson was shocked to see that he has led the unionist people away from the office of first minister, despite the ‘vote for us or get a SF first minister’ strategy which was almost as effective as Paisley’s ‘smash Sinn Fein’ strategy.

If the DUP had not altered the Good Friday/Belfast Agreement by changing the rules that selected first minister from largest community grouping to largest party we would still have a unionist FM.

Jeffrey quickly moved to move Emma Little Pengelly into his MLA seat and ensured he sat firmly in his Westminster seat.

If he were to take his assembly seat and create the need for a by-election in Lagan Valley imagine the ‘earthquake’ that would follow if he lost the seat to Alliance, a total catastrophe for the DUP with the double whammy of losing first minister and a safe unionist seat.

Jeffrey will not want to be the first unionist deputy first minister and I predict he will put Paul Givan back as DFM and stay in Westminster with the excuse he has to help steer the Northern Ireland Protocol Bill through the Commons and fight any attempted changes introduced in the Upper House before he ventures into the office of deputy first minister.

The current ‘stalemate’ is wrong.

The assembly should be like the House of Commons, Sinn Fein don’t take their seats and don’t get a salary, the same rule should apply to the assembly.

If the DUP want to stay at home let them do so and let an executive be formed without them.

You may say, as a unionist, I am handing control to the nationalists, my view is democracy has elected the members and no party whether unionist or nationalist should hold this state to ransom.

We need a government, the DUP saw the mistakes they made in May they hope an election will sweep them back into the first minister role that ‘stay at home unionists’ can be persuaded to come out.

It’s a dangerous game for the DUP, those ‘stay at homers’ might vote UUP or Alliance.

What happens then?

We now have the new Conservative PM Liz Truss, the DUP will not have her ‘in their pocket’ there are more serious ‘fish to fry’ and I believe she will change strategy and be more amenable to talks with the EU and Jeffrey’s attempts to steer the protocol his way will hit a ‘Titanic Iceberg’.

Regardless the secretary of state should introduce new legislation that when an assembly is elected no member is paid until he or she signs the register, a speaker is elected and following an agreed Programme for Government an Executive is formed.

Ross M Hussey, Former Ulster Unionist MLA for West Tyrone, Omagh