QUITE some time ago – long before the fallout from Drumcree – I suggested that unionism was in the process of dividing into two very distinct pro-Assembly and anti-Assembly camps.

One side believes the Assembly is actually facilitating the expansion of nationalism, allowing the border poll debate to dominate the political and media agenda and pushing unionism into second-class status.

The other side believes that, for all its faults, the Assembly is probably the best way to maximise unionism’s voice and influence within the United Kingdom.

Those two sides met head-on a couple of weeks ago, with Carla Lockhart championing the removal of Michelle O’Neill, while Gavin Robinson made the case that anything with the potential to crash the Assembly and Executive was best avoided.

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Carla’s side countered that rules recently introduced would prevent collapse by leaving a caretaker system in place.

Yet that ignores the reality that Sinn Féin would simply stop attending the Assembly, allowing the whole place to reek of mothballs within a week.

Which, as it happens, would probably suit Sinn Féin very nicely in the run-up to next May’s elections.

Two polls in the last week have it sitting on an average of 19 per cent, with the three unionist parties at 15 per........

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