Lord Empey said:
“I welcome the remarks by Ms Villiers that an official opposition at Stormont would help the Assembly move on and become more accountable. Along with Lord Lexden and others, we attempted to have enabling legislation included in the recent Northern Ireland (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act, but due to pressures over Scottish independence and an unwillingness to even challenge the current set up at Stormont, the Government refused to accept our amendments on this matter.
“Ms Villiers is going to have to come to terms with the fact that there are those at Stormont who do not want to see any change to create an opposition because they know it would open them up to proper scrutiny and transparency.
“Stormont could do much itself to provide for an opposition, but as the Government admitted during the passage of the Northern Ireland Bill, safeguards would be needed in Westminster legislation to ensure that some local parties who dominate the Assembly, could not pressurise an opposition over speaking rights, research facilities and other resources.
“I welcome further debate on this matter, but if HMG is going to allow itself to be blackmailed into inaction then all the talk in the world is meaningless. The amendments proposed earlier this year merely provided for a Government response if the Assembly wanted to go down the road of creating an opposition. London could have sent a signal that it wanted the Assembly to move in a certain direction, but by giving a permanent veto to Sinn Fein over this, little will change.
“I call on Theresa Villiers not to give up on this and to press the parties to move forward.”