Last Thursday voters in the parliamentary constituency of Corby exercised a right that it is taken for granted almost everywhere in the United Kingdom ...
They voted for an opposition party.
Whatever is said publicly, you can be sure that in Downing Street the PM and Deputy PM have been holding meetings to consider what the Coalition need to be doing differently.
Corby sent a signal that voters in Middle England are prepared to contemplate a change of government.
It is all quite normal democratic politics.
In fact, most people would say that it is the definition of democratic politics ...
The right to be able to choose a new government.
Almost everywhere in the United Kingdom, this right is taken for granted ...
But not in Northern Ireland.
We are a place apart.
Here voters cannot decide who will govern.
The political parties' right to be part of the Executive trumps the voters' right to choose a government.
And then we wonder why voters withdraw from the democratic process ...
Why turnout in the 2011 Assembly election in some constituencies barely reached 50%.
1998 and evolving change
This is not the fault of the Belfast Agreement.
14 years on the Agreement stands - alongside with the creation of the state of Northern Ireland - as a remarkable achievement by the Ulster Unionist Party.
While the recent murder of Prison Officer David Black stands as a painful reminder that a small minority are still wedded to the path of violence and terror ...
A generation has come of age since 1998 free of the dark shadow of the Troubles.
The condemnation of David Black's murderers from right across the political spectrum is a sign of how far this society has moved.
While society has moved, however, our political structures have not.
The Agreement was always open to change.
This is why the review mechanism was built in its provisions.
It recognised a fundamental truth of political life ...
Political institutions and structures must be open to change if they are to truly serve and represent society.
A failure to do so results in institutions regarded by society as irrelevant and unrepresentative.
14 years on - despite the great changes in Northern Ireland society - our structures of government are frozen in time.
It is as if politics has not moved on from Good Friday 1998 ...
While our society grapples with new questions and different challenges.
My fear is that if the political institutions continue frozen in time ...
The already very significant numbers of voters who see the institutions as irrelevant will continue to grow.
Ulster Unionism and the opposition principle
Recognising this, it is Ulster Unionism which has consistently advocated the one change with the potential to radically alter this situation.
Rather than our politics being frozen in time, incapable of moving on from 1998 ...
Rather than this being the only part of the United Kingdom in which voters are unable to determine who will govern ...
Ulster Unionism has urged the creation of an Opposition at Stormont.
It was a key commitment in our 2011 Assembly election manifesto:
"the best form of government is one which is held to account by a formal and officially recognised Opposition. More than that, we also believe that voters should have a real choice between a sitting government and a credible alternative to that government".
Mike reiterated this stance in his conference speech:
"We remain resolute in our view that the biggest single change to make Stormont a building that delivers rather than survives, is the introduction of an official opposition".
Our advocacy of the necessity of Opposition for real democratic politics is now becoming the new consensus in Northern Ireland politics.
A new consensus for Opposition
Dolores Kelly has rightly called for the SDLP to consider Opposition as an alternative to being bit players in the DUP-Sinn Fein coalition.
As Dolores pointed out, being forced to support and implement the policies of the DUP-Sinn Fein coalition damages both the SDLP and Ulster Unionism.
More importantly, it also deprives voters of authentic choice.
It would be my hope that Ulster Unionism and the SDLP can have meaningful conversations about how we might work together to ensure the emergence of a cross-community Opposition to the DUP-Sinn Fein coalition.
The DUP, of course, will tell us that they are long-term supporters of the opposition principle.
Recently, Peter Robinson admitted that what he termed "minor changes" in how the Assembly functions would allow for the emergence of an Opposition ...
He has not, however, taken any steps to secure such "minor changes" ...
Probably because his Sinn Fein coalition partners have not given him permission.
Ulster Unionism, however, is determined to build on this consensus for opposition.
Building on the consensus
We are doing this in three ways.
Firstly, we are continuing to make the case that the normalisation of Northern Ireland politics needs Opposition.
Without an Opposition, normalisation of our politics is a fantasy.
As Mike stated in his conference speech:
"A normal democracy affords voters the opportunity to change their government every few years. In a normal democracy, the Official Opposition is afforded maximum opportunity to scrutinise the government, and offer up an alternative".
If we do not, then, see the emergence of provision for a formal opposition at Stormont, Northern Ireland politics will remain locked in a sectarian headcount for the next generation.
Secondly, our Party has initiated a Constitutional Committee to examine how the normalisation of Northern Ireland politics might be pursued, including through the creation of an Opposition.
This Constitutional Committee will examine ideas from a range of experts and interested parties and will make proposals to move this agenda forward.
Thirdly, I have initiated the process of a Private Members Bill in the Assembly to examine what legislative provisions might be required to facilitate the creation of an Opposition.
If legislation is required, I will carry it forward through a Private Members Bill.
This will allow MLAs from all political parties to express their support for a common democratic principle.
Addressing Nationalist concerns
I fully understand that many Nationalists are cautious of talk of Opposition.
They have concerns that Opposition is really about restoring majority rule.
Mike explicitly addressed this at the party conference:
"Let me nail the big misconception about our view on Opposition. It's not about the Ulster Unionist Party looking for a return to Majority Rule. I cannot see a time when Northern Ireland will not require a cross-community government".
Stability in Northern Ireland demands cross-community government.
While other unionists viciously opposed powersharing for decades ...
For decades Ulster Unionism has supported it, knowing that cross-community government delivers stability for the institutions and consent to the institutions.
It is not in unionism's interests to move away from circumstances in which Nationalist political parties and Nationalist voters fully participate in Stormont.
Unionism knows that this was a key weakness of the old Stormont parliament.
However, another key weakness of that parliament was the absence of a real, meaningful Opposition offering real, meaningful democratic choice to voters.
It is precisely because we do not want to replicate the weaknesses of the old Stormont parliament, that Ulster Unionism is so insistent about the need for an Opposition in the Assembly.
Removing some of what a former SDLP leader called the "ugly scaffolding" of 1998 is not about returning to the past.
It is about building a future for all in Northern Ireland in which we move away from the politics of the sectarian headcount ...
In which all the people of Northern Ireland have real and meaningful choice ...
In which all the people of Northern Ireland have the right and power to change their government if they so desire.
For this to happen, there needs to be an Opposition in the Assembly.
Dynamic democracy or more of the same?
Whether listening to the results from the Corby by-election ...
Or watching Prime Minister's Questions ...
Or observing how the Opposition parties in Edinburgh hold Alex Salmond to account ...
It is strikingly obvious that it is in the interests of politics, institutions and - above all - citizens for there to be an Opposition.
There cannot be dynamic democratic politics without an Opposition.
'Dynamic' ... it is not the first word which springs to mind when you think about the Assembly.
We have - to say the least - a tame Assembly.
It is tame because there is no Opposition to do the hard work of holding the Executive to account.
And so, Stormont 'survives rather than delivers'.
The Ulster Unionist Party has a much greater ambition for today's Northern Ireland - and for the Northern Ireland of tomorrow.
Today's Northern Ireland is characterised by vast swathes of our society ignoring the democratic process - and these are very often pro-Union voters.
They see no meaningful choice being offered.
They just see more of the same.
The voters in tomorrow's Northern Ireland - those born in 1998 and who will be able to vote for the first time over the next few years - will see a politics irrelevant to them ...
Stuck in the past ...
And not giving them real choices in today's world.
This is why Ulster Unionism is determined to see the emergence of an Opposition at Stormont.
A politics that settles for more of the same is not the politics that Northern Ireland needs.
This is why Ulster Unionism is determined to deliver on this agenda ...
Why we will not settle for the DUP-Sinn Fein politics of more of the same ...
Why we are committed to giving to the people of Northern Ireland a politics that offers real choice, real accountability.
Others offer merely more of the same.
Ulster Unionism stands for a radical change which gives real power to the people of Northern Ireland.
