Mr Robinson said “whilst Sinn Fein’s focus is on a border poll”, his party’s focus was on making Northern Ireland work
DUP leader Gavin Robinson (Image: Charles McQuillan/Getty Images)
People in Northern Ireland face a political choice between “Stormont or Starmer”, DUP leader Gavin Robinson has said.
In his weekly message to party members ahead of the second anniversary of the return of Stormont, Mr Robinson argued that devolution is “not perfect” but said abandoning it would be “a serious mistake”.
The devolved powersharing institutions returned at the start of February 2024 following a two-year suspension when the DUP collapsed the Executive in protest at post-Brexit trading arrangements.
When the Assembly and Executive were restored, Sinn Fein was the largest party, with Michelle O’Neill taking the position of First Minister with the DUP’s Emma Little-Pengelly as deputy First Minister.
Mr Robinson said his party had never created the impression that the return of Stormont would be “transformational”.
He said: “The DUP was clear that re-establishing the institutions would not magically fix public services.
“Years of underfunding and the consequences of that were never going to be resolved overnight.
“And today I am under no illusion about the pressures people continue to face.
“I see the condition of our roads and I know how many people are still waiting far too long for medical appointments.”
He added: “But we did know this, Northern Ireland is better governed by locally-elected representatives, accountable to the people we serve and who we live beside, than by semi-detached decision-makers with no real stake in our communities.”
The DUP leader said 2027 would see the next Assembly election and “people are entitled to expect much more”.
Mr Robinson said “whilst Sinn Fein’s focus is on a border poll”, his party’s focus was on making Northern Ireland work.
He added: “That means facing the reality that our civil service is structurally broken with a lack of expertise and soaring sickness levels.
“It means listening to the voices in business about rates and recognising that our planning system is grinding growth to a standstill.”
The DUP leader added: “The choice ahead remains exactly as it has been, devolution or direct rule, Stormont or Starmer.
“Those who argue for direct rule ignore the reality that our policies will then be shaped by people whose priority is those they are accountable to, not those of us in Northern Ireland.
“Devolution is not perfect. An Executive of opposites is not going to be an exemplar for decisive decision-making, let alone collegiality.
“But abandoning it would be a serious mistake.
“Progress doesn’t happen overnight, but it doesn’t happen at all without devolution.”
In his statement marking two years since the return of Stormont, TUV leader Jim Allister said unionists should ask “was it worth it?”.
He said: “What did we get in return?
“More protocol parcels border, veterinary medicines border, new car border, more than £190 million spent on border posts to partition the UK, trade diversion building the stepping stone of the all-Ireland economy, more EU law.
“And because of all that a weakened union and unionism robbed of the only real leverage it had.”
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