These have not been easy times for politics. Over the past few months on the doorstep and at the ballot box the electorate have had their say, and we have listened. It is clear that in some areas we need to change. We need to address a number of matters and put our own house in order. Already we are doing so on a whole range of issues from double jobbing to expenses. We must also reconnect with our electorate and explain more and communicate better.

To date we have failed to communicate what has been achieved. How many people even know that the Regional Rate for households and businesses has been frozen, prescription charges are being abolished, water charges have been deferred, the free travel scheme has been extended to those over 60 or that we were the only part of the UK to make a special £150 fuel payment to the most vulnerable in our society?

Complacency about the progress we have made can easily set in. Just a few years ago who would have believed that the PIRA war would be over, the Union would be secure and republicans would support the police the courts and the rule of law.

But despite all that has been achieved it was never going to be an easy or a painless process for many to see Sinn Fein in an Executive in Northern Ireland. I have no doubt that most unionists would prefer if Sinn Fein were not in the Executive. But other than being in office what have they been able to achieve that has advanced by a single step their united Ireland agenda? Instead, for the first time in a generation we as unionists have control over our own destiny.  That’s why on the day that the Sinn Fein project stalled again in the Republic of Ireland it was disappointing that they were able to get a morale boosting result in Northern Ireland.

In the coming months we will address many of the issues and concerns that we raised during the election, but we will not be deflected from our belief that devolution is in the best interests of unionism and the best interests of the people of Northern Ireland.  Before we turn to our plans for the future let us analyse the result of the European election where a number of key facts have largely been ignored.

Firstly, this election represented the Ulster Unionist Party’s worst ever performance in terms of the number of votes it has achieved in a Northern Ireland wide election. They also won a lower share of the vote than they did in the last General Election when they were reduced to only one Member of Parliament.

Secondly, the nationalist share of the vote actually decreased from the level achieved at the last European election.  This reversal took place despite the fact that the expenses issue is widely acknowledged to have had a greater impact on unionist turnout.

Thirdly, Jim Allister, despite confidently predicting, in the weeks leading up to the election, that he would hold his European seat finished fifth in a field of seven and achieved the lowest share of any unionist candidate. He is therefore the first incumbent Northern Ireland MEP ever to lose his seat.

Fourthly, over eighty five percent of all votes cast in the election and over seventy percent of all unionist votes were cast for candidate that are in favour of devolution for Northern Ireland.

And fifthly, despite all of the difficulties faced, our candidate Diane Dodds actually won back the DUP’s European seat and received more first preference votes than any other unionist candidate.

However these election results raise a number of important issues which we need to address. The greatest of these is how to sell the benefits of devolution. We also need to focus on the alternative. Jim Allister suggests that a voluntary coalition would be a better way to govern Northern Ireland. I agree. Indeed we have previously advocated a DUP/UUP/SDLP coalition. Unfortunately to date the SDLP have implacably opposed such an arrangement in the present circumstances and now represent less than 40% of the nationalist electorate in Northern Ireland.

I do not question Jim Allister’s commitment to a voluntary coalition it has been so strong that when he was a DUP party officer in a meeting before the St Andrews talks he argued that a voluntary coalition with Sinn Fein was preferable to a mandatory coalition. As this would have inevitably led to more Sinn Fein Ministers in the Executive his argument did not find favour with any of his then party officer colleagues.

While Jim may have been consistent about the desirability of a voluntary coalition he has been less consistent about the circumstance in which he would be content to be in a mandatory coalition with Sinn Fein. In the weeks leading up to devolution in 2007 this was not a matter of principle but a matter of timing for Jim. He favoured a longer testing period over the summer for Sinn Fein but when balanced against the introduction of water charges, an Irish Language Act and the abolition of academic selection under Direct Rule the other party officers were content to proceed in May.

But the reality is that the alternative to the form of devolution that we presently have is not some unionist panacea but is Direct Rule with a greater role for Dublin and influence for republicans.

Even since the election Jim Allister has made it clear that he wants to bring down the Executive and destroy devolution. This will be the ground on which the next elections in Northern Ireland will be fought. No one knows better than I do about the imperfections of the present arrangements but they are far better than any attainable alternative at this time. While Jim Allister will seek to tap into anger and alienation, he knows that there is no better alternative. Devolution, post St Andrews, gives unionism a veto over any major decisions in Northern Ireland. Direct Rule - which he always described as Dublin Rule but now strangely refers to as British Direct Rule - leaves us powerless and marginalised.

It is sheer madness to believe that the end of devolution and further years of constitutional instability would be good for unionism and good for Northern Ireland. As advocates for the Union it is the responsibility of unionists to show that Northern Ireland can work, not that we are unable to govern ourselves.

Does anyone really believe that arrangements which do not command cross community support are likely to produce a stable and prosperous society?  Does anyone believe that constitutional instability will lead to more investment and jobs for people that live here?

Our challenge in the months ahead is to take this case to the country. We will unashamedly defend devolution and oppose those who would seek to bring it down whether through the bomb, the bullet or the ballot box.

Jim Allister has made his wrecking agenda clear. Now it is time for Reg Empey and the UUP to make their position clear. Reg doesn’t know whether he is in government or opposition; whether he is an advocate for power sharing or against it.   For the last few months their key focus has been on attacking the DUP rather than defending devolution. This narrow partisan focus is not good for unionism.  At a time when unionists should be working together they are playing party politics.

Indeed, the UUP’s rejection of an electoral pact to allow unionists to win back both South Belfast and Fermanagh and South Tyrone is the sort of self-inflicted wound to unionism that has done so much damage in the past. Reg Empey should tell David Cameron that it is more important to have two more unionists at Westminster than it is to keep two nationalists, one of whom does not even take her seat in Parliament.

The stakes are undoubtedly high. If we are unable to persuade the people of Northern Ireland that devolution is good then we will have failed unionism and failed Northern Ireland. That is not an outcome that future generations would forgive us for.

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