Will SDLP mimic Ulster Unionists' headline move to Assembly Opposition benches?

MARTIN McGUINNESS, the re-elected Sinn Féin deputy First Minister in the North's Assembly, today said he hopes the SDLP doesn't follow yesterday afternoon's move by the Ulster Unionist Party and surrender its place in the Executive to go onto the Opposition benches.

The announcement yesterday by Ulster Unionist Party leader and former UTV news anchor Mike Nesbitt (pictured) that the UUP would go into Opposition was described in Irish News headlines today as “media savviness” and “UUP upstages rivals as they move to Opposition benches”.

The move by the UUP was always likely but observers are surprised that it came so quickly after last week's Assembly elections rather than when negotiations on the Programme for Government are concluded in a fortnight's time.

The Democratic Unionist Party and Sinn Féin won most of the 108 seats in last week's elections, with the DUP holding its 38 seats and Sinn Féin 28 (down one). The Ulster Unionist Party held its 16 seats. The SDLP came out of the election down to 12 from 14.

Today, Martin McGuinness told RTÉ's Morning Ireland that while he was relaxed by the UUP manoeuvre, he was nonetheless “deeply disappointed” as it is a move away from the 1998 Good Friday power-sharing model of administration agreed by former UUP leader David Trimble that recognised the “uniqueness” of the political situation in the Six Counties.

“I would like both the SDLP and the Ulster Unionists to stay in the institutions.”

He said that he hopes that SDLP leader Colum Eastwood does not do the same as the UUP.

Sinn Féin is entitled to ministerial responsibility for two departments (three if the SDLP follows the UUP into Opposition) but Martin McGuinness would not say which of the five key departments Sinn Féin would like to have.

Martin McGuinness dismissed comparisons with Sinn Féin's position in the 26 Counties of not going into Government as republicans had made it “quite clear” during the Dáil general election that they wouldn't be going into Government with Fine Gael or Fianna Fáil unless Sinn Féin was the larger party.

“The difficulty is that Mike [Nesbitt] didn't make that clear going into the election. He didn't know if he was going to be in Government or not and I think the SDLP face the same difficulty.”