The Alliance Party has “been a very poor champion of a shared future” and is “clearly equivocal about Northern Ireland”, according to NI Conservatives’ spokesman, Mark Brotherston.
“At its conference at the weekend Alliance made a song and dance about being the party for a ‘shared future’”, Mark explained. “That doesn’t stand up to scrutiny, because actually they’ve looked after that policy very poorly. Firstly, their eagerness to get an executive minister completely undermined an opportunity to force progress on a shared future strategy during negotiations for the Hillsborough Agreement. Secondly, they refused to use their position on Belfast City Council to force a Northern Ireland wide agreement on flags.”
“Alliance’s record simply doesn’t match up to their condescending attitude. To be clear, having a position on the constitution is not ‘sectarian’. In fact it is a very basic aspect of how a party sees Northern Ireland’s future. To kop out of having a position on such a fundamental issue is not progressive, it is deeply confused and ultimately destructive. Northern Ireland needs a party which has a clearer view of the future and a vision of politics which is not based on being ‘in between’ Orange or Green.”