Leading anti-agreement unionist David Burnside has conceded power-sharing in Northern Ireland is inevitable – but has called for new structures operating "in a power-sharing way".
A recent poll claimed support for the Good Friday Agreement had plunged to an all-time low, but also found that 58 per cent of unionists were not prepared to share power with Sinn Féin or the SDLP.
Unionists said the result reflected wider opinion across their community in the wake of the allegations of an IRA spy-ring at the Northern Ireland Office and the SDLP's decision not to support a unionist demand for Sinn Féin's exclusion.
Ulster Unionist South Antrim MP David Burnside said the current system of power sharing at Stormont was not workable, but it was not possible for one party to achieve an overall majority. He conceded that power sharing was inevitable.
"You have got to have sharing if you are going to have an administration but the structure at Stormont is proving not workable," Mr Burnside said.
"We need to take a fresh look at it during this period of direct rule.
"I would like to see more powers given to local councils. They can operate across committees in a power-sharing way."
He outlined the need for a "superstructure" of government for Northern Ireland, but "not the same as existed under the Good Friday agreement".
Mr Burnside said this Stormont 'superstructure' would remain as the top tier of government – heading a system that included fewer, but more powerful, district councils.
Pressed on his preferred system for distributing power at Stormont, he insisted that the existing system had not worked and an alternative had to be found.
DUP East Derry MP Gregory Campbell said power sharing was a consequence of Northern Ireland's political makeup.
He said unionist disillusionment with the SDLP stemmed from the party's perceived "shelter and support" of Sinn Féin.
"Every time the issue was raised in terms of looking at the exclusion mechanism, the SDLP declined to support it. The continual declining of the SDLP to expel Sinn Féin means that they are suffering from association.
"No party can hope to get more than 50% of the vote. Because of the community divisions we have it is a matter of realpolitik that there is going to have to be devised some form of representative government."
Ulster Unionist assembly member Fred Cobain said Sinn Féin's behaviour in government had tarnished power sharing in the eyes of unionists.
He said: "The vast majority of unionists are disillusioned with the whole process. They do not understand the SDLP's position.
"Power sharing is an essential part of the process but that process has to be inclusive," Mr Cobain said.
