Ulster Unionist Leader, Mike Nesbitt MLA, has challenged Alliance Leader, David Ford MLA, to apologise for the false claim he made on Radio Ulster this morning.
Mr Nesbitt said:
“In trying to explain why he was not prepared to withdraw from the Northern Ireland Executive, he spoke of Alliance having two Executive Ministers because of the votes of the people of Northern Ireland.
“The reality is Alliance have two ministers because of the corruption of the d’Hondt system following the Hillsborough Agreement.
“Based on electoral support at the last Assembly Elections, Alliance are entitled to only one ministry. The second is Justice, which goes to Alliance because neither the DUP nor Sinn Féin are prepared to allow the mechanism agreed in 1998 and endorsed by referendum to apply.
“If Alliance were acting truly democratically, they would have passed on the second ministry when d’Hondt was run in 2011. But greed and petty party political interest ruled the day.
“For David Ford to disrespect the Belfast Agreement in 2011, and now claim falsely they have two ministries because of electoral support is all you need to know about the integrity and honesty of their position.”