Funding an Opposition?
On the margins of his breakfast event, Tom Elliott expressed the hope to my colleague Martina Purdy that the government would legislate for an officially recognised opposition. An NIO source told me this has been raised by the UUP. But there are no plans to include it in the "Normalisation Bill" due to deal with political donations and double jobbing. That bill is currently expected in 2013. Of course any party can choose not to take seats in the Executive. However, in contrast to Westminster, there is no funding or official recognition for a Stormont "opposition". My source suggests the question of funding might be one for the Assembly Commission, which manages Stormont, rather than the NIO.
Perhaps if the number of MLAs and departments is cut that will free up funding for an opposition. As things stand, though, the Commission has just approved (according to the public service union NIPSA) a 17% cut in the Assembly budget over the next four years. That could translate into nearly 90 job losses. NIPSA members have been invited to a meeting tomorrow to voice their "sense of concern and anger". All of which could limit the official assistance given to whoever might emerge as Stormont's equivalent to Ed Miliband.
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