The Alliance Party should “stop claiming to be the guardians of a shared future and start tackling the issues in a coherent way”, according to NI Conservatives’ co-chair, Trevor Ringland. In particular he criticised the party’s actions on flags.
“The only sensible position on flags is that the Union Flag should be flown on council headquarters on designated days, right across Northern Ireland”, Trevor said. “The Alliance Party had a chance to push this position but they botched it. They’ve shown naivety where it comes to Republican tactics – which divide people rather than bring them together. The tactic of the movement which Sinn Féin is a part of, until relatively recently, was to drive people who believe in the Union into the sea, rather than build a relationship with them.”
“Yet, rather than putting pressure on republicans and taking up the negotiating position that a flag which comes down can also go back up again, Alliance have refused to link the flag at Belfast City Hall with a province wide solution to the issue. Too often Alliance talk a good game on building a stable, integrated future for Northern Ireland, yet fail to deliver. They took up the justice ministry without an iota of progress on the shared future strategy, they prop up divisive government and they are entirely dependent on politics here remaining sectarian.”