"Never a pup's chance"
I'm just off air from this weekend's Inside Politics, during which we broadcast an interview with Peter Robinson recorded on Friday. The First Minister said "there was never a pup's chance" that the SDLP and UUP intended to vote for the Executive budget, even if the cash to their respective departments had been doubled. He said that if extra money had been available health wouldn't be top of the list.
The DUP leader claimed Tom Elliott was playing catch up with his policy on the need for an opposition at Stormont and criticised the UUP's concentration on the need for funding, saying "I'd have thought this was a metter of principle" and that money "wouldn't be the main issue involved".
On whether the DUP would refuse to nominate a Deputy First Minister if Sinn Fein becomes the biggest party, Mr Robinson said he was happy to confirm it was the legal situation that one appointment could not be made without the other. But would this be the "clever device" he intends to operate? He replied that his device would be ensuring the DUP is the biggest party.
During the interview Mr Robinson also said he couldn't support an inquiry into the 1971 Ballymurphy killings and spelled out his opposition to using the AV system for Westminster elections. (That's in contrast to my studio guest political consultant Quintin Oliver, a veteran of the Good Friday Agreement referendum campaign who is now preparing to throw his organisational weight into the local "Yes" campaign).
I'm 
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