IRISH communists expressed scepticism yesterday after the UUP and SDLP vowed to offer an alternative to the Stormont power-sharing government.

Nationalist SDLP leader Colum Eastwood addressed the unionist UUP conference in Belfast on Saturday, accusing the DUP-Sinn Fein executive of “all guff and no government.”

The Foyle MLA claimed the “cosy establishment” running the executive had failed the people and eroded trust in the effectiveness of the devolved institutions.

“True reconciliation here will not be achieved through warm words but through practical politics,” he said.

In his speech, UUP leader Mike Nesbitt claimed the two parties could deliver a new middle ground politics for the people of Northern Ireland.

The two parties formed an unlikely opposition alliance after May’s assembly elections.

“Forming an opposition is entirely consistent with who we are,” Mr Nesbitt said.

“It has been a bold step, but a necessary one for those of us who seek normal, democratic politics in Northern Ireland.”

Communist Party of Ireland executive committee member Joe Bowers said: “You can read platitudes by the hundred, but you’d have difficulty finding a serious policy alternative that would be meaningful to the people of Northern Ireland.

“They don’t present a serious alternative in the Brexit debate,” he said, pointing out the SDLP was “the most Europhile party in Northern Ireland,” while the UUP was “a wee bit” more pro-EU than the DUP, the only major pro-Brexit party in Stormont.

He warned: “On the economic front all parties’ strategy, including Sinn Fein, is to make themselves more attractive to inward investment.”