It’s time for Paisley to lead or leave

The Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) and Sinn Féin were the main winners in the Assembly elections in Northern Ireland this week.

Their gains may have been largely at the expense of the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) and the Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP), but the ideals of those two parties were not necessarily the big losers.

In both instances their more radical opposition moved towards the centre. The DUP has been indicating that it would go into government with Sinn Féin, if the latter demonstrated conclusively that it would support the Police Service of Northern Ireland.