HARD-LINE unionist Jim Allister has called on the SDLP and UUP to form an official opposition in Stormont, vowing he would remain as a “thorn in the side” of the DUP and Sinn Féin in the Northern Assembly.
Speaking during his Traditional Unionist Voice party’s annual conference in Cookstown on Saturday, Mr Allister said the Executive was “a massive waste of money” and branded those in it as having “abandoned their principles”.
Mr Allister, who is his party’s only MLA, said the UUP and SDLP were fodder for the two larger parties and they should “step out” to make Stormont work.
“They are in the Executive but intend not to be of it. The result is they are but fodder for the DUP and Sinn Féin, who when it suits uses them and abuses them. How long can they put up with the humiliation to which they are subjected?
“I say to them to step out . . . you’ve nothing to lose but the shackles that bind you to the failures of the present arrangements. So long as you offer and practice the same failed system you’ll never displace your larger counterparts.
“This one-man band has shown the stir just one can sustain. Think what a whole orchestra of opposition could do.”
The former DUP man, who left the party when it agreed to enter powersharing with Sinn Féin in 2007, told his supporters he would rather be a “lone voice with his principles intact” than part of a “despicable duplicity”.
“When you get up close to them at Stormont it still amazes me how those who once pledged to smash Sinn Féin are today their buddies.”