Alliance attacks Burnside and UUP on 'waste of time' Royal Commission debate

10.51.00am GMT Fri 7th Dec 2007

Alliance Lagan Valley MLA Trevor Lunn

Alliance MLA Trevor Lunn has launched a stinging attack on the David Burnside and the Ulster Unionist party over their outdated motion calling for a Royal Commission on the future of the UK, which inevitably led to divisive constitutional-issue rhetoric in the Assembly yesterday.

Trevor Lunn MLA said: "Six people died on our roads over the weekend, our health service needs real attention and we have seen devastating job losses recently around Northern Ireland, yet all that the Ulster Unionists wanted to discuss was this divisive motion. Devolution has proceeded in the different nations of the UK by the will of parliament and the UUP did not advance a single argument on the benefits of a Royal Commission.

"David Burnside needs to get a grip of himself. People want to see the back of the stale brand of politics that people like him offer.

"The local population is sick of this type of outdated rhetoric and tribal drum-beating. We are supposed to be in a new dispensation. Can people like David Burnside not for once get over their insecurities? Voting against having a Royal Commission is not the same as voting against the Union.

"It says a lot about the current state of the Ulster Unionists that all they can come up with for a motion in the Assembly is this. People would far rather see their MLAs tackling issues that affect their everyday lives like improving the health service or bringing more jobs to Northern Ireland. Yesterday's debate was a total waste of the Assembly's valuable time. We voted against timewasting.

"The Alliance party is moving Northern Ireland forward towards a shared future. Unfortunately Ulster Unionists seem hell-bent on pushing this region back to it's divided past with Assembly motions like this."

ENDS