13: Lucky for some?
After all the conflict of the election campaign, there was an outbreak of political harmony during this lunchtime's "Inside Politics". I played Ian Paisley Junior some of Lord Ashdown's comments questioning whether a coalition involving the DUP and other regional parties could be a recipe for stable government. The new North Antrim MP replied that the London parties may soon find that "beggars can't be choosers".
If Lord Ashdown implied that any role for regional parties was very much Plan C or Plan B, then Ian Junior's response was that the local MPs planning to take their seats should be prepared. He suggested that the 13 politicians (the same number as the Derry Apprentice Boys) should work together on areas like finance and the defence of the local economy. Alliance's Naomi Long agreed that the block of 13 should work together.
Although Alliance is a sister party of the Liberal Democrats, Naomi Long is stressing that she is an Alliance MP, not a Liberal Democrat and as such is a free operator. This is in part because she's personally a left leaning Liberal, but also maybe that if the Liberal Democrats propped up a Conservative government which implements drastic cuts she wouldn't want to be the only local MP seen to be shoring up such a government.
It's hard to see the 3 SDLP MPs (or Lady Hermon) propping up David Cameron as Prime Minister, so maybe the "block of 13" only comes into action if the current talks fail and a Lib-Lab pact is back on the cards. But if today's "Inside Politics" is anything to go by some of our politicians see benefit in a public show of unity on behalf of NI PLC at this stage.
I'm 
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