Sinn Féin And DUP Accused Of 'Protecting The Status Quo'

Sinn Féin and the DUP have been accused df wanting to maintain the status quo to "serve their own ends".

SDLP Leader of the Opposition Matthew O'Toole MLA made the comments after a meeting of the Assembly and Executive Review Committee (AERC) at Stormont on Tuesday morning.

A proposal from the SDLP Opposition and the Alliance Party for the committee to examine Assembly reform was rejected by Sinn Féin, the DUP and the UUP - despite both the First and deputy First Ministers previously saying the committee was the place to examine reform. ]South Belfast MLA Mr O'Toole said: "When the Assembly returned the SDLP Opposition called for a specific committee to be set up to examine reform of the Stormont institutions, we were told by Sinn Féin and the DUP that the proper forum for this was the AERC, but when meaningful proposals were brought forward today they were rejected out of hand by Sinn Fein, the DUP and the UUP.

"Instead these parties want to wait on yet another report from the Executive Office. It's clear that these parties are totally unserious about engaging with reform, why would they when the current setup serves this self-interest and divisive brand of politics, instead of working to serve the interests of people across Northern Ireland.

"Repeatedly I have asked these parties to commit not to collapse the Executive, given the serious harm it has caused to our public services and many other facets of life here. They couldn't even do that, and it's clear they wish to hold that threat over everyone who lives here, instead of looking seriously at reform and delivering better politics for the North."