Paisley: Assembly like a local council
NORTH Antrim MP Ian Paisley Jr has savaged the standard of debate among his former colleagues in the assembly, describing Stormont as being “more like a grand county council than a regional parliament”.
In a blunt assessment of the assembly, the former MLA said he had no regrets about giving up Stormont for Westminster, describing the level of debate in the assembly chamber as “reading a five-minute prepared script and then disappearing off to do whatever you want”.
He said the assembly “is not a debating chamber” as “proper debating is stifled and suffocated” by inexperienced MLAs who act like local councillors.
In an article for the magazine Agenda NI, Mr Paisley said: “The difference in atmosphere between Stormont and Westminster really couldn’t be more stark. Westminster is a real debating chamber.
“No getting up reading a five-minute prepared script and then disappearing off to do whatever you want. Do that once in Westminster and you won’t get called again for at least a year.”
The former Stormont Castle junior minister laid into the Belfast legislature, arguing that it was easily influenced by the media and that many MLAs are just not up to their jobs.
He said that as an MP in Westminster there was a sense that they were playing a part in the shaping and formation of government policy and legislation, but added: “In the assembly that can’t be said. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed it but the assembly is not a debating chamber — more’s the pity.
“Proper debating is stifled and suffocated by a host of reasons: inexperience, lack of confidence, deficiency in some members’ ability and a protocol that has grown up of five-minute speeches with one intervention and a driver to try to get a line in the local newspaper rather than to effect change or drive debate.
“If the assembly wants to become more relevant, it needs to allow the debating chamber to breathe a little more.”
In a caustic rejection of the assembly as a major political institution, Mr Paisley said: “The assembly is more like a grand county council rather than a regional parliament.
“Maybe that’s because so many MLAs come from council background…many come from a background of grasping at government with one hand and a begging bowl in the other…”
He added: “A regional assembly that wants to be a devolved parliament must cast off this straightjacket.”
ANALYSIS
By Sam McBride
GIVEN that as the largest party in the assembly the DUP holds the most senior positions, Ian Paisley Jr’s attack on how Stormont is run is particularly unusual.
In one sense, Mr Paisley’s criticisms of Stormont are of the institution as a whole.
But given that it is the DUP which leads the Stormont coalition, his criticisms will likely sting more among his own party’s MLAs than those of rival parties.
By being so vocal about his distaste for Stormont, Mr Paisley is showing a confidence based on his huge personal vote.
But while some MLAs will fume, many outside Stormont will back his withering assessment of a place which in recent weeks has focused on creating more jobs for MLAs, including the controversial post of ‘principle deputy speaker’, while unemployment continues to rise.
