TUV want to win the election, not just make up the numbers: Allister
By Rebecca Black, PA
The TUV is in the Assembly election to win, not just to make up the numbers, party leader Jim Allister has said.
Mr Allister has been the party's sole MLA at Stormont throughout its history.
He is hoping to see that change this year, running 19 candidates covering all of Northern Ireland's 18 constituencies, including two in North Antrim.
"TUV is not in this election to make up the numbers, TUV is here to win," he told his party's conference at the Royal Hotel in Cookstown on Saturday.
"When we do, I can promise you one thing - Stormont will never be the same again.
"By winning seats in this election we not only advance the cause of traditional unionism but we keep some others honest."
Mr Allister described "a most crucial election" and urged the party faithful to work to "wipe the smile off our naysayers".
He referred to rising poll numbers for TUV, "inducing others to harden their stand" on the Northern Ireland Protocol and "sing off our hymn sheet".
"We're in a great position where there is a rising tide of support for this party across this province. I have a simple message for you: go back to your constituencies and work for victory," he told supporters to cheers.
A large part of Mr Allister's address related to the protocol, and he urged the UK Government not just to trigger Article 16 to suspend the protocol, but to "repudiate it".
He described it as an "instrument to break up this United Kingdom, a device to leave Northern Ireland aligned with the Republic under the foreign sovereignty of the EU".
"This protocol can never be acceptable or made acceptable ... because it makes us subject to foreign jurisdiction, foreign single market, foreign customs code, foreign VAT regime, all ruled over by foreign laws we don't make and can't change by a foreign court.
"Article 16 is but a step, it's not a solution, it presses the pause button and then embarks on further years of endless negotiation. What we need from the British Government is much more than Article 16, what we need is repudiation ... it must go, no ifs, not buts."
Turning to the Stormont Assembly, Mr Allister vowed to never be part of nominating a deputy first minister to "enthrone a Sinn Fein first minister".
He challenged the DUP and UUP to make their position clear.
"There can only ever be a Sinn Fein first minister - even if they were the biggest party - if they find some stooge of a unionist party to fill the post of deputy," he said.
"TUV has no difficulty answering that question, I can tell you this party will never be bridesmaid for Sinn Fein.
"My challenge today to other unionist leaders: will they assure the unionist people of the same?"
Mr Allister also urged the changing of government at Stormont from a mandatory coalition to a voluntary coalition.
"TUV is very clear, if this Stormont can't be fixed then it's not worth having," he said.
"There is a way to fix it ... a coalition of the willing ... a voluntary coalition with a vigorous, properly resourced opposition. But if that is too much for those who demand power for themselves at any price, then there is nothing left to give."
The conference also included speeches on victims of terrorism as well as the TUV's alternative to Stormont which it described as a "failed system", fixing the health service, addressing the cost of living crisis and farming.
The TUV has seven councillors, including Harold McKee in Newry, Mourne and Down Council, who joined the party from the UUP last November over "liberal values" under leader Doug Beattie.
Mr Allister was previously a long-term member of the DUP, serving as an MEP for a number of years.
He left and formed the TUV in 2007 following the decision by the DUP to enter the powersharing government at Stormont with Sinn Fein.