No u-turn for UUP

Ulster Unionist Party leader Sir Reg Empey MLA, speaking during the Assembly debate on policing and justice, said that the UUP remains determined "to make Stormont work for all the people of Northern Ireland - unionists, nationalists, all of us".

Calling the day's proceedings "the normal procedures of parliamentary democracy", Sir Reg said that the UUP was entitled to its point of view.

"Those of us who find ourselves, in good conscience, unable to support the motion, believe that the conditions are not yet right. We are doing what we were sent to this House to do - we are exercising our judgment.

"We are seeking to serve the best interests of all the people of Northern Ireland.

"I am immensely proud of the sacrifices my party has made for the cause of peace. Our determination to make Stormont work for all the people of Northern Ireland - unionists, nationalists, all of us - continues. Our whole-hearted support for the brave men and women of the PSNI continues unabated.

"Before, during and after the Hillsborough process, my Party declared that we would judge things on the basis of three fundamental principles.

"The first of these is the need for the power-sharing Executive to function as a four-party coalition. To say that it has not done so since May 2007 is to state the obvious.

"If the Executive is to represent all the people of Northern Ireland, it must function as any other coalition function - on the basis of equality between coalition partners.

"The second principle is the pressing need to ensure that the Executive addresses, rather than ignores, the education debacle. My Party is not expecting others to agree with us on all education issues, we are, however, looking for consensus in place of strife," Sir Reg said.

"Thirdly, there is the matter of policing and justice itself. Ulster Unionists believe in the devolution of policing and justice powers. We do not, however, believe in devolving these sensitive powers into an Executive incapable of deciding how to transfer children from primary to post-primary schools.

"The stark fact is that the party leaders in the Executive have not had a single conversation together about how we will respond to the dissident threat, or about how these institutions will approach major disagreement between the parties over policing and justice.

"Progress is being held up by Sinn Fein's unwillingness to accept the normal democratic conventions of coalition government.

"Sinn Fein's rejection of the Executive working together as a coalition of equal partners has been gravely disappointing.

"I hope that in the days to come, Sinn Fein will reflect on this and move to a position that is in the interests of good government for all the people of Northern Ireland.

"Lecturing us earlier today about stability in the Institutions, the Deputy First Minister seems to forget, however, that Sinn Fein is the party which brought the Executive to a standstill for 154 days during a global economic crisis.

"And now that same Party has the barefaced cheek to lecture others about the workings of the Executive!"

Concluding, the UUP leader said that his Party voted 'no' "as a democratic political party pledged to making power-sharing work in an inclusive manner for all the people of Northern Ireland; and we exercise our rights refusing to bow to the blackmail and bullying to which we have been subjected in recent weeks".