Ulster Unionist peer, Lord Empey has slammed the Alliance Party’s decision to withdraw from the CSI working group.
Lord Empey said:
'Like their Lib Dem counterparts in London, Alliance is not a natural party of government'.
'David Ford's ill-tempered hissy fit and subsequent walkout from the CSI discussions is no way to resolve deep seated problems within our community.’
“The Alliance Party’s arrogance, whereby they consider this to the 'their' issue, demonstrates the fact that they have a fundamental lack of understanding of both nationalists as well as unionists. They cannot be bothered to take a view on whether or not Northern Ireland should be in the Union or not, and as a result decry both unionism and nationalism. Instead of showing respect for both these traditions, David wants the people here to become some sort of political sludge that believes in little or nothing. This is why Alliance will never be able to solve our community problems because neither unionists nor nationalists will trust them with the future.'
'It is well known that David Ford is under pressure from within his Party over the removal of Stephen Farry from his Ministry and playing 'Mr Tough Guy' over the CSI is pretence that he is not the creature of Sinn Fein and the DUP. It doesn't suit him.'
'Building a new set of relationships within our community is probably the greatest task facing Stormont, and while progress has been painfully slow, walking away from the table will not resolve it. We must all stay there until it is sorted.'
