Last week I advanced my Private Members Bill - 'The Armed Forces and Veterans Bill' to its first stage in the Stormont Assembly.

Ulster Unionist Assembly member for Fermanagh & South Tyrone, Tom Elliott MLA has suggested that the Office of First Minister & Deputy First Minister should now seriously consider a similar action as Westminster, which reads the names of all those soldiers who have died in Afghanistan on a weekly basis, but in the Assembly situation all the names of those innocent victims who have died in Northern Ireland over the past 40 years should be read out.

Since the N.I. Assembly will increasingly find itself under pressure due to the economic downturn, it must meet the challenge by learning to 'think outside the box'. What is difficult to understand is why some critical lessons have not been learnt from the National Government while other hare-brained proposals are being pursued with blind dedication.

Responding to the failure of the Executive to provide an agreed way forward on local government reform, UUP Local Government spokesperson Roy Beggs Jnr. MLA has said,

Ulster Unionist MLA for East Antrim, Roy Beggs Jnr has described the convened of a special session of the NI Assembly to discuss the situation in Gaza as 'farcical'.

Ulster Unionist MLA Robert Coulter has urged the Education Minister Caitriona Ruane to move ahead with plans for a new build at Castle Tower Special School.

Ulster Unionist MLA George Savage has paid tribute to those who served in the B Specials during a motion in the Northern Ireland Assembly.

Speaking during a budget debate in the Assembly on Monday, Ulster Unionist Finance Spokesperson, David McNarry MLA, expressed concern that ';we are ill-prepared for the reality of administering policing and justice in Northern Ireland';.

Ulster Unionist MLA for South Antrim, Danny Kinahan has sought to clarify several matters dealt with in an interview with David Ford published in the Belfast Telegraph on Thursday.

Ulster Unionist MLA David McNarry has described comments by the DUP and SF as 'alarmist' in relation to policing and justice.