THE DUP and Sinn Féin often seem to aspire to nothing higher than mutual veto and mutual avoidance of uncomfortable realities and difficult decisions, Ulster Unionist Party leader Tom Elliott told his party’s annual conference on Saturday.
Mr Elliott, in his keynote address in the Armagh City Hotel, accused in particular the DUP and its leader Peter Robinson, the First Minister, of pursuing a policy of simple party self-interest which translated as “ourselves alone”.
He said the UUP, instead, had acted in the interests of all of unionism and Northern Ireland by having taken risks in supporting the 1998 Belfast Agreement when the DUP had stood aside, taking its opportunities later when there was much less risk.
“Irrespective of the attempts by other political parties to rewrite history, the fact remains that there would not now be an Assembly and a recognisable peace process if it were not for the UUP,” Mr Elliott said.
Complaining of an effective carve-up between the DUP and Sinn Féin in the Northern Executive, he added: “Surely we didn’t spend 40 years working to restore devolution just to end up by splitting the block grant between a group of people who choose to do their own thing.”
Mr Elliot called for the number of departments in the Northern Executive to be reduced to from 12 to eight. He said next May, when a review of the Department of Justice was due, would represent “a perfect opportunity to streamline and develop a more efficient Northern Ireland government”.
The UUP leader also told delegates that he saw no prospect of agreement on a method for dealing with the legacy of the Troubles.
“I believe that it is time to call a halt to the incomplete, flawed and imbalanced series of arrangements that are currently employed to deal with our past.
“What we need is an agreed mechanism, rather than a series of processes that serve to rewrite history, painting the state and the agents of the state as the villains,” he added.
“Currently I see no prospect of finding a mechanism where everyone feels empowered to tell the truth about what they did during the last 40 years.
“In the absence of that, we operate a very uneven playing field where the great majority of victims see all the focus and resources dedicated to a very few high-profile victims – and even they often end up feeling dissatisfied with what they get.”
The UUP leader sought to use his speech to rally the party after its disappointing performance in the Assembly election earlier this year when its number of seats dropped from 18 to 16, and in last year’s Westminster general election when it failed to elect a single MP.
“With some breathing space until the next election, I want to make sure that we are better prepared and fit for battle when the next contest comes,” Mr Elliott said.
It was not a case of seeking to reinvent or reposition the UUP, but “what is clear, though, is that we can’t fool ourselves that if we sit about and wait for other parties to get it wrong, that somehow we will reap the rewards”.
“Our task now is to address the issues that really matter to people – like health, education, the economy, jobs, housing, unemployment, safe roads.
“We must reconnect with the electorate and re-engage their interest in politics, create a form of devolution which not only delivers, but is seen to deliver.
“It is up to us to attract the tens of thousands of unionist voters who were voting at the start of the peace process but who aren’t voting any longer. It’s about making ourselves a credible alternative to the current stalemate,” he added.
Mr Elliott said he could not let the conference pass without paying tribute to President Mary McAleese. Her initiatives had helped to create better understanding.
“We have different beliefs and loyalties and obviously have different opinions on many issues, but the one thing we share is an inherent belief in the goodness of people.
“We also have a commitment to build bridges, sturdy structures based on mutual respect and not founded on meaningless words and phrases,” he added.
