Secretary of State must stop cow-towing to individual parties

9.38.10am UTC (GMT +0000) Fri 2nd Jun 2006

Alliance Chief Whip Kieran McCarthy MLA

Alliance Chief Whip Kieran McCarthy MLA has slammed the Secretary of State for "cow-towing" to individual parties, after he initially cancelled Assembly business next week and then did a U-turn.

The Strangford Assembly member stated: "It is quite obvious that the Secretary of State cancelled business at the behest of one party and then did a U-turn at the behest of another. This is no way to run a political process.

"There are five party groups in the Assembly, not two.

"The Secretary of State must stop attempting a 'balancing act'. The whole reason the institutions fell amidst distrust and recriminations were that they were based upon balancing competing aspirations rather than on the common good.

"The Assembly has been established with rules that must be adhered to by all sides - that includes the Governments and the largest parties. Otherwise distrust will reign again - and that is no way to build stable institutions.

"All sides need to start doing what is right for the whole community and the whole process, not cow-towing to narrow sectional interests."

ENDS