• DUP are about the brutal politics of domination
• Partnership needed to make Northern Ireland work  

Ulster Unionist Leader, Mike Nesbitt, said: 

“The DUP are engaged in a massive game of distraction. This is the same rhetoric which they sold to the electorate last May and look where we are now. It is the last refuge of a party leaving behind a legacy of incompetence and sleaze. 

“The DUP and Sinn Fein have been in government for ten years and people are still being called back to the trenches. We want partnership government. The DUP are about the brutal politics of domination. 

“We have consistently argued for many years the current processes are incomplete, imbalanced and imperfect. The DUP promoted the current proposals for the HIU and ICIR. It is up to them to say if they have changed their mind in the mouth of an election. They were warned. Meanwhile families continue to suffer the anguish of not having access to a credible mechanism for acknowledgement, truth and justice. 

“Mrs Foster may say that she will never agree to an Irish Language Act but people should remember that the DUP used to say that they would never go into government with Sinn Fein. Look what happened to that pledge. Talk of an Irish Language Act only came out in the DUP`s negotiations with Sinn Fein at St Andrew`s in 2006. As far as the Ulster Unionist Party is concerned, we fulfilled our obligations under the Belfast Agreement. 

“Despite Mrs Foster`s protestations, if this election isn`t about RHI why did the DUP produce a leaflet entitled ‘RHI – The Facts’ which actually played fast and loose with the facts. Mrs Foster has even gone as far as producing a letter defending her role in the RHI debacle. £85,000 is going up in smoke every single day between now and the election, money which could be spent to help reduce waiting lists or pay for much needed operations. 

“The only credible way out of this mess is for dramatic change at the heart of our devolved government, with a switch from parties focused on dominating the other, to a proper partnership founded on making Northern Ireland work.”