Ulster Unionist Leader, Mike Nesbitt MLA, has slammed the Sinn Féin leadership following their flip-flop on Welfare Reform.
Mike Nesbitt said:
“Well done Sinn Féin! You say you stand up for the vulnerable in Northern Ireland, but you are making them suffer for your political aspirations in the Republic.
“I am particularly disappointed in Martin McGuinness and his lack of self-respect in allowing himself to be shaken by the tail by Sinn Féin’s Southern Command. I thought he was serious about representing all the people of Northern Ireland, but he has turned out to be a Straw Man. I wonder what the Martin McGuinness who was Second in Command of PIRA in Londonderry would say to Martin McGuinness, the deputy First Minister today?
“The decision to block the Welfare Reform Bill, and thereby scupper the Stormont House Agreement, is an act of political terrorism.
“Sinn Féin supported the deal on Welfare Reform all the way from Stormont Castle, through Stormont House, to Stormont’s Parliament Buildings right up to the last minute. Their flip flop was nothing more than the deliberate explosion of an IED, as in Improvised Electoral Device.
The DUP are not blameless in creating this existential threat to devolution. Their Finance people knew years ago that fiscal pressures were coming.
“We now stand closer than ever to the point where we witness the death of democracy in Northern Ireland. This will come when duly elected politicians have to hand over power to a civil servant. That will be a massive challenge to the Ulster Unionist Party.”