Foyle UUP chair speaks on theparty leadership election

“Members had different opinions as to who the new leader should be,” commented Terry Wright, Chairman of the Foyle UUP, “and there is no doubt that many were pleased that following the election Mike Nesbitt emerged as the clear winner in the contest. He achieved an overwhelming result and has a clear mandate from the membership for the strategy he favours.

“Like myself, some members voted for John McCallister but the party was not willing to endorse his ideas which were acknowledged to be high risk.

“Having signed his nomination papers in order to support debate and ensure a contest, I felt obliged to vote for John.

“In spite of what was a poor result for him in setting out his plans for Opposition within the NI Assembly, John Mc Callister MLA has moved the debate beyond internal party issues to focus on a debate that will not go away. The political process which was conceived as a life-jacket for democracy in 1998, has become a strait-jacket for those parties which struggle to make themselves heard outside the Sinn Fein-DUP axis of power.

“ These two parties are creating a wasteland of mutual veto and co-existence as they, in tortuous fashion, labour towards a shared future defined by their willingness to now tolerate and mutually- benefit each other to the exclusion of those who do not want to buy into their version of democracy.

“It is the new orthodoxy and is producing mediocre politics. It allows them to forget what is too painful to remember. There is no room for anyone else.

“There is hope for review but it is becoming clear that there will be no review that does not secure the status-quo favoured by Sinn Fein and the DUP.

“It will be a sectarian carve-up, indicative of how our past continues to shape our present and more crucially, the future.

“The electorate in Northern Ireland is tired of petty political bickering. It wants its representatives to address the issues which affect its lives.

“Whilst it has rejected going into formal opposition the UUP will have to play a role akin to it.

“Opposition is not about bickering. It is about robust and informed positive engagement and openness. It is about the positive experience of full participatory politics and in the Northern Ireland context, the extent to which this can be achieved within the Assembly.

“It is about challenge and critique and will create a dynamic where the quality of decision-making that the electorate expects from representatives will grow.

“The MLAs who govern and who have been elected beyond their abilities will no longer hide behind the cosy protection of those power blocs which exercise power and compromise the other parties who lay a subservient role on the Executive.

“Those who have become sceptical and mistrust the political process will have found a voice.

“Opposition does not have to be isolationist. Pacts have proven problematical. United unionism is not achievable. If there was one unionist party today there would be two tomorrow. Unionism needs to move on.

“To build consensus is preferable but on the basis of shared values and the integrity of accountable and agreed solutions to issues and not the populism and spin which currently operates without opposition and serves to embed a system where one power bloc decides what is right and what is wrong.

“Within Northern Ireland such a power bloc, operating without critique and meaningful scrutiny, disenfranchises those who differ.

“Ulster unionism from within can expose the shortcomings of both sectarian groupings to appeal in a more inclusive way across the community to create a more liberal society.

“In spite of Peter Robinson’s cynical attempt to claim the mantle and legacy of Edward Carson this will be in marked contrast to the two large sectarian groups whose decisions and policies are always in line with their historical and pre-Agreement prejudices and beliefs. A review of the institutions is over-due.

“A guaranteed place in government coupled with the ability of the bigger party Ministers to take advantage of and trade on the desire of their main partner’s desire to sustain power and lack of effective scrutiny is flawed.

“ It shows a lack of courage and a willingness to cling to false hope to perceive what is right and fail to do it so it is inconceivable that the UUP will fail to rise to the challenge.”

Terry Wright is Chair of the Foyle Ulster Unionist Association.