Doug Beattie: 'Mandatory coalition has been abused'
The system of mandatory five-party coalition at Stormont "no longer delivers good government" and must be changed, the leader of the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) has said.
Doug Beattie told his party's annual conference that Stormont has "become dysfunctional and people are angry".
He called for a "working power-sharing government" where the electorate can vote out those not up to the role.
Unlike the rest of the UK, devolved government in Northern Ireland is based on a power-sharing agreement which means any ruling coalition must have representatives of both the unionist and nationalist communities.
"Mandatory coalition and other measures, that were supposed to be about minority protection, have been used and abused for the purpose of frustrating the executive and the assembly," the UUP leader said.
"There have been some pitiful outcomes and mutual veto rather than delivery and power sharing.
"We need to create a working power-sharing government with a working power-sharing opposition to hold them to account.
"This will put the electorate in the driving seat and allow them to vote out those not up to the role and vote in those with a better vison for the future."
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