Letter: ​UUP should seek revival from the opposition benches

It was particularly interesting to see that the SDLP had increased by two points being in opposition at Stormont while the UUP dropped by two points being part of the Stormont Executive.

It has been an interesting feature of many coalition governments that the smaller party often shares the blame for the unpopular aspects of government while the larger party gains more of the credit for its successes.

The 2010 Conservative/Liberal Democrat government certainly demonstrated this with heavy losses for the Liberal Democrats in 2015.

With this in mind I think the UUP should be careful they don’t share the blame with Jeffrey Donaldson for returning to government on terms that normalise a form of joint authority by partially removing NI from the UK while the larger coalition partners get the benefits from voters who perceive value in devolution.

I would prefer the UUP removed themselves from the executive to be part of an anti-protocol coalition that deprives the Windsor Framework of the legitimacy that unionist participation gives it but in so far as it seems to be their conviction to support the executive I would suggest they might want to reflect on whether their own electoral fortunes might prove better by copying the SDLP and seeking revival from the opposition benches at Stormont.

Unionism continues to have the same dilemma that it just isn’t possible to both oppose the Irish Sea border and implement it at the same time.

It seems unlikely the DUP can win back supporters who are unhappy with this without a much more aggressive stance against the Irish Sea border, making the obvious electoral strategy to try to gobble up Ulster Unionist votes. This is much more easily done if you’re both in the same government.

Unless the UUP want to consider a formal merger with the DUP, which might be sensible if both parties are genuinely committed to the executive on its current terms, I would say the UUP run the risk of following the same fate as the Liberal Democrats in 2015 and other junior coalition partners by remaining in the Stormont Executive.

R G McDowell, Belfast BT5