Eleven years after the signing of the Good Friday Agreement Northern Ireland is a transformed place. Despite the recession our towns and cities are being rebuilt, trade is strong and an entire generation have no adult memories of the conflict. Last year southern shoppers spent nearly €500 million north of the border, fuelling a mini-boom in many Northern shopping towns, because of the strength of the Euro.

Yet despite all this, like British Labour in the 1970's the DUP - Sinn Féin coalition isn't working. The promise of a post-sectarian North is unfulfilled and parents everywhere are stressed out by the political betrayal of their children which made a bad 11+ exam system worse after the Sinn Féin Minister for Education unilaterally ended the old selection exam.
Neither Sinn Féin nor the DUP will score well on their record in Government. To date the Executive they jointly lead has distinguished itself by inaction rather than results, and this is very unlikely to change in the run-up to the 2010 UK General Election and the 2011 Assembly poll. This is not because they have a free run in institutional terms with no opposition breathing down their necks - it is because they are being measured by their support base on their ability to stand up to each other rather than to work together in the interests of all.

If either the SDLP or UUP were to leave the Executive they would stand accused of fostering instability. But that does not mean they cannot change the way they work together inside and outside the Executive. Right now what we need is not so much a debate about opposition, but one about alternatives.

There is nothing in the structures of government which would prevent the UUP and SDLP developing common positions on key issues and providing the people with an alternative.

Education is an obvious example. Agree the basic principles of a workable system based on academic excellence and social justice, possibly with pupil choice at 14, and at least both parties could demonstrate that Irish and British people who call this region home can agree on important issues.

Tackling our divisions is another. There is still no central government policy to tackle the cancer at the heart of Northern Ireland. Both parties should commit to a shared future and stand together against sectarianism and racism.

Even on the economy there is very little on which the DUP and Sinn Féin agree. This creates yet another opportunity for the UUP and the SDLP. They should agree a real Green New Deal and have the courage to publish it as an alternative response to the current recession.

All this does not in any way prejudice either party's nationalism or unionism, no more than it would prejudice the Green Party, Alliance or PUP if they were to support agreed positions. What it would illustrate is that our two communities and their representatives can work together and share a commitment to the success of this region and its people. That would be a real platform for change.

Conall McDevitt, MLA represents the South Belfast constituency. He is a former Secretary of Labour Youth and served as Vice-President of ECOSY.