Breaking SF and the DUP’s stranglehold on local politics is the first step to better government

MIKE Nesbitt was mocked for the ‘vote Colum, get Mike’ strategy after his party formed an opposition with the SDLP.

Actually, with the UK and Irish governments focused on keeping Sinn Fein happy, the alternative was always ‘Vote Martin McGuinness, get Ian or Peter’.

This tactic was unnecessary. Most of us just wanted a politics that would make this small part of the world work.

We deserve better than a situation, engineered by the governments and underpinned by the St Andrews Agreement, that places Sinn Fein and the DUP in an untouchable position.

Most of us enjoy living in the shared place we call Northern Ireland, or something else. This reality is borne out by happiness surveys and the work of Professor Peter Shirlow at the University of Liverpool. Our focus should be on how we can restore good government.

Steve Aiken is leader-in-waiting at the Ulster Unionist Party, which has a good claim to be the one party that really loves this place.

He is wrestling with the problem of how to return genuine choice to electoral politics. To that end, he says he’ll stand candidates in every constituency, whether the DUP likes it or not.

It would send a powerful message if the SDLP and Alliance made a similar pledge to contest every seat.

Without other parties making hard points about making Northern Ireland work socially and economically, it would be difficult for the UUP to do the heavy lifting on its own.

Whatever one’s constitutional preference, making this place work is the only way forward that guarantees a peaceful and stable island for ourselves and our children. We should show little tolerance for those who argue otherwise.