:00:32. > :00:39.probably the most ambitious set-up proposals that have ever been
:00:39. > :00:42.brought forward. This is a decisive step change where we can move
:00:42. > :00:45.forward. Peter Robinson and Martin McGuinness were clear about its
:00:45. > :00:47.significance. Can today's initiative seal the deal on a shared future?
:00:48. > :00:50.I'll be asking the five main parties for their views.
:00:50. > :00:52.They're thinking big - more than two months since those dramatic
:00:52. > :01:02.resignations, Basil McCrea and John McCallister say their ambitions
:01:02. > :01:04.
:01:04. > :01:09.don't stop at opposition. But it is our intention to form the Government
:01:09. > :01:12.of Northern Ireland. We are not shy in our ambition, but we are
:01:12. > :01:15.realistic about the challenge And making sense of the week in politics
:01:15. > :01:17.and sharing their thoughts on the resignation of the week, we're
:01:17. > :01:18.joined tonight in Commentators' Corner by the Professors, Heenan and
:01:18. > :01:23.Wilford. In front of us.
:01:23. > :01:26.And you can, of course, follow the programme on Twitter.
:01:26. > :01:30.The First Minister says it's the most ambitious set of proposals to
:01:30. > :01:33.tackle underlying divisions in the history of Northern Ireland. Martin
:01:33. > :01:38.McGuinness says it's a decisive step forward and clear evidence of the
:01:38. > :01:48.two men's ability to work together. But what are the chances of success,
:01:48. > :01:49.
:01:49. > :01:59.given the history of similar initiatives? It all started back in
:01:59. > :02:01.2005. Three years later, with devolution restored, it had been
:02:01. > :02:04.re-christened by the First and Deputy First Minster as "Cohestion,
:02:04. > :02:08.Sharing and Integration". And it was two years after that, in February
:02:08. > :02:10.2010, when OFMDFM announced a final draft was almost ready. But just a
:02:10. > :02:15.few months later, the Ulster Unionists, SDLP and Alliance
:02:15. > :02:19.criticised it for lack of vision. To break the stalemate, an all-party
:02:19. > :02:24.CSI working group was set up at Stormont. But one year later and the
:02:24. > :02:26.Alliance pulled out followed by the UUP. And with still no document to
:02:26. > :02:31.show, by January this year, Peter Robinson revealed the sticking
:02:31. > :02:34.points were flags, parades and the past. Which brings us to today's
:02:34. > :02:44.announcement and another new name - Together: Building a United
:02:44. > :03:04.
:03:04. > :03:10.ambitious set of proposals on a shared future ever. Let me start
:03:10. > :03:14.with 10,000 reasons! 10,000 of our young people not in education,
:03:14. > :03:19.employment or training are going to be given a unique opportunity of
:03:19. > :03:26.work experience, leisure, volunteering, charity work, but in a
:03:26. > :03:34.shared way. It's unique. Let's all come together to build this united
:03:34. > :03:39.community. In the summer, 100 of our post primary young people will get a
:03:39. > :03:46.unique opportunity to have a residential together, learn
:03:46. > :03:56.together, to play sport together. Ten of our areas will have a social
:03:56. > :03:58.
:03:58. > :04:08.development, a mixed housing scheme. John... Ten shirt campuses.
:04:08. > :04:14.For urban villages. Where's the evidence that these new proposals
:04:14. > :04:20.would lead to greater significance sharing? The 10,000 proposals we
:04:20. > :04:27.don't currently have. We have 46,000 of our young people not in
:04:27. > :04:33.education, employment or training, that's one in four. That's not
:04:33. > :04:36.acceptable. We are going to give 10,000 of our young people aged
:04:36. > :04:44.unique one-year opportunity with a stipend to come together, to work
:04:44. > :04:53.together and get an accredited diploma at the end of it. It'll cost
:04:53. > :05:03.millions! If we don't do it, it will cost even more. This programme of
:05:03. > :05:10.
:05:10. > :05:15.work was over ten years. But I do believe, over the four or five
:05:15. > :05:23.years, we can secure the funding to do it. The 10,000 that Jonathan Bell
:05:23. > :05:33.has gone on about their, it is the funding coming from existing funds
:05:33. > :05:40.
:05:40. > :05:46.all additional funds? That would be additional funds. It will come. If
:05:46. > :05:50.we require further funding, we should be working with the British
:05:50. > :05:56.government and our executive colleagues. Is the funding in place
:05:56. > :06:02.at the moment? If you have 10,000 young people, will be �1000 a year?
:06:02. > :06:12.If it is, that's �10 million. a significant amount of money but it
:06:12. > :06:13.
:06:13. > :06:19.is not beyond the means. Which means you'll find it? That's different
:06:19. > :06:23.from saying you have identified it. We can argue over the pounds,
:06:23. > :06:30.shillings and pence is over this proposals, but we are capable of
:06:30. > :06:36.securing that funding. We deal in tens of millions of pounds on a
:06:36. > :06:45.daily basis. The importance of today's announcement is that it is a
:06:45. > :06:51.step up. No 1's saying it is a final solution. It is a step forward.
:06:51. > :07:01.step forward, a step in the right direction? We have a lot of
:07:01. > :07:11.
:07:11. > :07:16.headlines and it -- very little substance. They have picked off the
:07:16. > :07:19.headline. I have real concerns about putting up headlines without
:07:19. > :07:26.substance, without knowing where the money is coming from without
:07:26. > :07:32.acknowledging what has already been done. In my case, without taking
:07:32. > :07:36.account of the realities. We have a danger of disappointing people.
:07:36. > :07:41.your party going to be involved in the working group set up to try to
:07:41. > :07:46.deal with some of the other issues that have not been sorted out? A
:07:46. > :07:52.couple of months ago, we proposed a five party working group with an
:07:52. > :07:59.independent share and bringing in a civic society. Peter Robinson
:07:59. > :08:03.rubbished that in the assembly. Yet that is exactly what is being
:08:03. > :08:10.proposed today. We will be looking at those proposals and seeing how we
:08:10. > :08:19.can make progress. Do you accept that the direction of travel is hard
:08:19. > :08:29.to argue with? There's nothing new. There are some headlines. It is not
:08:29. > :08:33.funded yet. Where exactly is it funded? I looked at some �10 billion
:08:33. > :08:43.we were spending, looked at the cost of these proposals, and we are
:08:43. > :08:48.
:08:48. > :08:58.confident we will resource and deliver. How much will it cost?
:08:58. > :08:58.
:08:58. > :09:05.Let's concentrate on what we are doing. We have got the funding for
:09:05. > :09:12.it. Tell us how much it is going to cost. Were looking at round about
:09:12. > :09:17.half �1 billion. Some of the work has to be tended, though. We are
:09:18. > :09:23.determined to deliver for 10,000 of our young people on a shared basis,
:09:23. > :09:30.on a cross community basis, because as the First Minister said, we have
:09:30. > :09:39.to give the young people the future. Half a billion. For the whole
:09:39. > :09:47.package? Over what period of time? We are looking across. There are
:09:47. > :09:57.things we can do immediately. Some pieces of work will have to be
:09:57. > :10:00.
:10:00. > :10:07.funded. But let no one be in any doubt: We will deliver. Why are you
:10:07. > :10:17.talking down 10,000 of our young people? 46,000 young people are not
:10:17. > :10:19.
:10:19. > :10:26.in education, employment or training. I will not rubbished these
:10:26. > :10:29.proposals, but what is rubbish is the fact that I had not been made
:10:29. > :10:38.aware of them in advance. The executive had no discussion or
:10:38. > :10:46.input. The political party, which I represent, is committed to a shared
:10:46. > :10:51.future and wants to see progress made but had no input. Why does that
:10:51. > :10:58.matter? It fundamentally matters because the entire community,
:10:59. > :11:08.including all the political parties, have to be involved in this work.
:11:09. > :11:09.
:11:09. > :11:18.This has to be a shared future not a shared out future. A number of
:11:18. > :11:23.actions have been announced today. To bring forward some of the most
:11:23. > :11:30.difficult aspects of our shared future. Exactly, to deal with the
:11:30. > :11:39.difficult bits you too could not sort out between you! How has the
:11:39. > :11:45.peace process moved forward? We got agreement on the issues.
:11:45. > :11:50.everybody had to be involved in that. I am a wee bit disappointed by
:11:50. > :12:00.the tone. But they didn't know anything about it until it was
:12:00. > :12:01.
:12:01. > :12:05.announced today. Fundamentally, that the issue, John. Calm down! Your
:12:05. > :12:11.fellow members of the executive did not know about this and your
:12:11. > :12:20.attitude is, so what? That sums up the attitude of the two main
:12:20. > :12:22.parties! In the wider issue of a divided society moving forwards, the
:12:22. > :12:30.first and Deputy first Minister stood up and said, these are the
:12:30. > :12:38.plans moving forward. Does the general public really care as to
:12:38. > :12:48.whether John David knew the details? They want to know will leadership he
:12:48. > :12:55.given to our society. It doesn't matter, he says. The point is, you
:12:55. > :12:59.know now. This is a divided society. Every time we have made
:12:59. > :13:04.progress, it is by having everyone in the room and dealing with the
:13:04. > :13:11.issues as a collective. It is not about siphoning of people to do side
:13:11. > :13:17.deals. Every time we have ended up in a cul-de-sac... We ended up in a
:13:17. > :13:25.cul-de-sac over parades. They did a deal and a deal player -- fell flat
:13:25. > :13:29.on its face. Sinn Fein and the day you be took themselves off aside,
:13:30. > :13:35.did the deal and it fell flat on its face. I don't want this process to
:13:35. > :13:39.end up being a fiasco. But it has to be said that in terms of getting off
:13:39. > :13:46.on the wrong foot, you couldn't possibly get off on a worse foot in
:13:46. > :13:54.an all-party executive where you have excluded the majority! Here's
:13:54. > :14:01.the bottom line: The SDLP will participate in any process. We do
:14:01. > :14:08.not leave the process, we stay with it till the end. We rode to be
:14:08. > :14:15.Deputy First Minister saying we were available. The point that needs to
:14:15. > :14:24.be said: We have written on four or five occasions on the past, this
:14:24. > :14:29.issue and other issues. No reply. had the document my hand today.
:14:29. > :14:38.Before we released it, before we announced it, the STL P released a
:14:38. > :14:48.press statement rubbishing it. Before they had read it and seen it.
:14:48. > :14:58.
:14:58. > :15:08.The SDLP... How stupid was that? a guy who spent two years trying to
:15:08. > :15:08.
:15:08. > :15:18.turn a good sea and is, -- trying to chair negotiations, let's see a
:15:18. > :15:23.
:15:23. > :15:29.collective approach. Thank you.Do you want collective government?
:15:29. > :15:35.me bring in David. He will be part of that negotiation. Your party
:15:35. > :15:40.walked away. Will you stay in from now on? They rubbished the process
:15:40. > :15:43.and have now accepted it. If we are talking about collective
:15:43. > :15:53.government, perhaps those who published the report can explain how
:15:53. > :16:04.
:16:04. > :16:08.they can produce this proposal. or out? How it is that they can
:16:08. > :16:16.announce proposals for what is the responsibility and professional
:16:16. > :16:20.expertise without any consultation with the Minister, how they can
:16:20. > :16:27.pronounce -- announce proposals about peace walls when they had no
:16:27. > :16:35.other consultation, they have complete ignorance of funding.
:16:35. > :16:40.need to move on from the issue of consultation. A timescale is most
:16:40. > :16:47.unhelpful and is not in the programme of government. I have more
:16:47. > :16:57.questions for the two people on my right. Will your party be part of
:16:57. > :17:01.
:17:01. > :17:07.The representatives from the largest parties need to understand
:17:07. > :17:13.the dynamics. Northern Ireland is deeply divided. There is a huge
:17:13. > :17:19.danger that we continue to drift into what might be called a benign
:17:19. > :17:24.apartheid. That isn't helpful. The attitude that we have heard tonight,
:17:24. > :17:29.that dismisses the involvement of other parties, this so what
:17:29. > :17:35.attitude, isn't helpful. And a caution people who use those terms
:17:35. > :17:39.to step back and say, others can make a contribution. People want to
:17:39. > :17:44.see a shared future, not a shared out future. We need to think about
:17:44. > :17:49.bringing things to its conclusion, I want to put this to - you want
:17:49. > :17:57.young people to work together. Yet, you say openly you cannot agree on
:17:57. > :18:03.key issues, sticking points, parades and flags and the past. You
:18:03. > :18:06.want them to get on and it is important to do that, but you
:18:06. > :18:11.reserve the right to engage in arguments when you want to on these
:18:11. > :18:16.critical issues. What example does that set? The only people arguing
:18:16. > :18:21.or those of posing and attempting to move the attempt to move the
:18:21. > :18:26.situation forward, what be clearly say is, we do not have agreement on
:18:26. > :18:33.the path, not on flight start macro Iago one flags whenever you want.
:18:33. > :18:38.Of course, but we can go into a room and talk and sort things out.
:18:38. > :18:44.What we have said... You have singularly failed to do that so far.
:18:44. > :18:51.We have resolved in many issues. Not those big issues. Let me finish
:18:51. > :18:58.one sentence. I have sat in studios over 10 years discussing aspects of
:18:58. > :19:02.the peace process and journalists like you have told me... Be never
:19:02. > :19:11.told you anything. You told us we would never share power with the
:19:11. > :19:15.DUP. Outside Newtownards tonight, Celtic, from Twinbrook and Belfast,
:19:15. > :19:21.playing my team, are strangers, under 15, boys and girls together,
:19:21. > :19:29.all parts together. Great - what about the flags? We will do that
:19:29. > :19:35.together. The junior ministers. have to leave it there. There is
:19:35. > :19:39.hard work to be done. We all need to be at it and not ignored.
:19:39. > :19:47.have to draw this to a gentle manner conclusion. Thank you and we
:19:47. > :19:49.look forward to further discussions in due course. More than two months
:19:49. > :19:53.since Basil McCrea and John McAllister quit the Ulster
:19:53. > :19:57.Unionists and formed their own pro- Union party and since then, nothing.
:19:57. > :20:07.We thought you would find out what has been happening behind the
:20:07. > :20:07.
:20:07. > :20:10.scenes. This report from Gareth Gordon. I have informed the party
:20:10. > :20:19.leader and have sent a letter with my resignation with immediate
:20:19. > :20:23.effect. We had to sell it, having talked to a number of people, to
:20:23. > :20:31.set up our own party and we feel confident we have a message that
:20:31. > :20:35.will go down well with the electorate. I am generally grateful
:20:36. > :20:40.to the member for giving way, it isn't a platitude because were it
:20:40. > :20:48.not for his generosity, neither myself nor Mr McAllister would have
:20:48. > :20:51.had a chance to speak on this issue. It is more than two months since
:20:51. > :20:56.Basil McCrea and John McCallister announced they were forming a new
:20:56. > :21:02.party and since then in public at least, there has been silence. They
:21:02. > :21:08.say you only get one chance to make a first impression, so have they
:21:08. > :21:14.are blown theirs? This week, the former party leader took to his
:21:14. > :21:18.Twitter to suggest they are lost. Not true, but if you track them
:21:18. > :21:27.down, they are in Stormont, when they revealed the new party would
:21:27. > :21:35.be lodged in four five weeks. are not finding any criticism, are
:21:35. > :21:38.you? The mood I get is people want us to put together a package and
:21:38. > :21:46.they're more interested in the message. The only people getting
:21:46. > :21:53.agitated about the timing and the name, are people like yourself.
:21:53. > :21:57.Worried about having something to report. So the imperative to get
:21:57. > :22:02.that out is, we will work to our own time frame. And we're very
:22:02. > :22:08.serious about what we have to do, there are really challenging issue
:22:08. > :22:12.is which we must get right, there is a bit of responsibility on us to
:22:12. > :22:17.do that and they will take the time to do this right and when we launch,
:22:17. > :22:23.we will have a significant number of answers to pertinent questions.
:22:23. > :22:28.Questor is like, what will the party be called? He will not tell
:22:28. > :22:31.you at the moment. You will be one of the first to know. Will the word
:22:31. > :22:37.Unionist be in the title? We are clear already that although we are
:22:37. > :22:42.pro United Kingdom, we are looking for a party that has focused upon
:22:42. > :22:47.Northern Ireland and we want to reach as wide a range of people as
:22:47. > :22:52.possible within that broad parameters. So the title Northern
:22:52. > :22:57.Ireland will be in the name? could tender that, but he will have
:22:57. > :23:01.to wait. What are the chances of success? We ask an expert in
:23:01. > :23:05.marketing. They have been very brave to do this in the
:23:06. > :23:08.circumstances they find themselves in. But I think it would be quite a
:23:08. > :23:13.challenge for them over the next couple of years to establish long-
:23:13. > :23:17.term credibility. A political party is much the same as a business. It
:23:17. > :23:22.has a customer base, it essentially has a stake holder gripping and
:23:22. > :23:26.everything it stands for represents that product. And that requires
:23:26. > :23:31.finance and resource commitment over an extended period. Have they
:23:31. > :23:35.got that? An Archer, frankly. in the 1990s, the Women's Coalition
:23:35. > :23:37.became a player in the peace process and one of the founder-
:23:37. > :23:45.members says establishing a new party is difficult but not
:23:45. > :23:49.impossible. The in terms of starting a new party, people should
:23:49. > :23:52.not, if they want to join, they should not enter with trepidation.
:23:52. > :23:57.Political parties might like to think it is rocket science but
:23:57. > :24:01.actually, it is just common sense, and of course it has to be backed
:24:01. > :24:05.by good organisation and of course if you're starting in a party, you
:24:05. > :24:09.don't have the same amount of profile. Therefore, you have to
:24:09. > :24:12.have some clear messages. Basil McCrea and Tom McAllister said they
:24:12. > :24:17.will have members and supporters from all walks of life. But their
:24:17. > :24:20.renditions do not end at opposition. When you start up any new party it
:24:20. > :24:25.will take time to get an organisation and an infrastructure
:24:25. > :24:29.everywhere. So we will be planned and considered in the way we tackle
:24:29. > :24:35.things but it is our intention at some stage to form the government
:24:35. > :24:39.of Northern Ireland. We're not shy in our admission but we are also
:24:39. > :24:45.realistic and the challenge in front of us. So you could be a
:24:45. > :24:52.party of government? That just serious, we intend to. That is why
:24:52. > :24:55.we're going into this. We do think that we need to get reform of the
:24:55. > :24:58.institutions in Northern Ireland and we think we need a position and
:24:58. > :25:01.we will certainly provide an effective opposition and until we
:25:01. > :25:05.get ourselves into government, and when we are in government we will
:25:05. > :25:10.work for the common good. So what could be one day, Basil McCrea,
:25:10. > :25:15.First Minister? I would like to see that. It does not matter to me
:25:15. > :25:19.whether it is John or myself or maybe somebody else who comes along.
:25:19. > :25:22.What you aspire to the leadership of the community, the whole
:25:22. > :25:32.committee and I stress that. We are looking to do what is right for the
:25:32. > :25:34.
:25:34. > :25:42.common good. The gospel according to John and Basil. As told to have
:25:42. > :25:46.Gareth Gordon. Professors Heenan and Wilford. Let's talk about the
:25:46. > :25:51.shared future. Lively discussion between representatives of the five
:25:51. > :25:55.main parties. What did you think? There was an irony because they're
:25:55. > :26:00.talking about a shared future and clearly there is no shared presence,
:26:00. > :26:03.present, and only shared agreement between the parties who formed the
:26:03. > :26:08.Executive. It was remarkable that John O'Dowd was able to spend
:26:08. > :26:11.Steven Farry's money as part and parcel of this fight for the bane
:26:11. > :26:17.pounds promised. If I was him I would like to know that my budget
:26:17. > :26:22.was being addressed in that sort of way. It struck me that this
:26:22. > :26:27.confirms the situation may have in government, no collective agreement.
:26:27. > :26:29.And the risk is that although it is ambitious and that is welcome, that
:26:29. > :26:35.it could unravel because there seems to be such a lack of
:26:35. > :26:39.agreement. And a lack of knowledge amongst the other parties about
:26:39. > :26:45.what this deal consisted of. We don't know if this 500 millions
:26:45. > :26:50.figure has been arrived at. A there is no argument about the direction
:26:50. > :26:54.but the issues of flags have not been resolved and tonight, there is
:26:54. > :27:00.no great evidence of it being about to be resolved? It is a step
:27:00. > :27:04.forward but not any big change and it isn't clear how it could be.
:27:04. > :27:08.Many of these ideas have been around before and there are a key
:27:08. > :27:15.issue is around the issue of funding and the very contentious --
:27:15. > :27:20.contentious issues, we're not any closer to solving these. Listening
:27:20. > :27:24.to that, it seems very little is possible. You a moment of the we?
:27:24. > :27:30.Nigel Lawson, his intervention in the debate saying it is now time
:27:30. > :27:33.for the UK to pull out. It was one thing for Nigel Farage and the
:27:33. > :27:37.fruit cakes, as it were, to campaign on that basis but when the
:27:37. > :27:42.former Chancellor comes out and says it is time to leave, a big
:27:42. > :27:46.beast has entered the debate and two former chancellors have added
:27:47. > :27:52.their voices. They have also said that Britain should leave.
:27:52. > :27:57.yours? The Queen's Speech yesterday, the pomp and pageantry but very
:27:57. > :28:01.little content. It was startlingly spas. Most people were very
:28:01. > :28:05.surprised by how little it content and what was left out rather than
:28:05. > :28:15.what was in there. Understandably, Labour said it is an example of the
:28:15. > :28:15.
:28:15. > :29:58.Apology for the loss of subtitles for 102 seconds
:29:58. > :30:04.Gareth Gordon did his level best to get the name of the party out of
:30:04. > :30:13.them. If you hear that, you heard it here first. Is that a deal?
:30:13. > :30:22.is a deal. I will tweet that. do you think? The likely lads?
:30:22. > :30:29.Actually, the BT to it because they saw me some months ago. A Queen's
:30:29. > :30:34.University is one step ahead! it make any difference or not?
:30:35. > :30:39.we will have to wait and see. It might dent the mould but it will