UUP leader would support legislation to stop blocking of Assembly Speaker

The UUP leader made the comments while appearing on BBC Radio Ulster’s Talkback programme today.

After referencing how the UK Government introduced new abortion laws for the Province, presenter William Crawley asked Mr Beattie: “Would you support a move by the UK Government through Westminster, through legislation, to reform that part of our arrangements, so that the DUP cannot block the election of a Speaker?”

Mr Beattie replied: “I think so, and I think so for the good of the people here in Northern Ireland. Because the people here in Northern Ireland are suffering because of this cost of living crisis. That’s not a strapline, that’s a lived experience, and we need to do something about it, and there are things that we can do about that if we had a Speaker and the Assembly was up and running and we could do stuff.

“Even a fuel poverty task force, and we’re looking at a rise from Power NI of 27 per cent which has just been announced. So there’s things we could be doing to try and help. There’s £451m sitting there, ready to be spent. So I think we could do that, just to get a Speaker going, and therefore those who want to participate in government to a limited degree can do so.

“I certainly want to participate in government, I want to be working, I want to be up at Stormont, I want to be doing stuff that helps the people of Northern Ireland, so if we can do something, even on a limited basis, then I think that would be a positive.”

Mr Crawley pointed out to Mr Beattie that he had said a “very significant thing” as the Ulster Unionist leader, “that you would like the UK Government to change the law to remove the DUP veto on the election of a Speaker”.

Mr Beattie replied: “Well, it’s not just removing the DUP’s veto of a Speaker, it’s anybody’s veto ... going forward it could be any political party’s veto to stop people going to work and working properly. So if we could do something.

“Look, this is not just targetting just the DUP, that just happens to be where we are now, we did go through three years of Sinn Fein doing exactly the same thing, and we should have bypassed them at the same time. There is a way, and I’ve said this already, that if we can bypass, so if we do something for the people of Northern Ireland, then I think that’s a fair thing to do.”