Ulster Unionists and Conservatives to merge…
Well, well, well. Here’s a thing. The news from David Cameron and Reg Empey in tomorrow’s Daily Telegraph (and here) is that the Conservative Party and the Ulster Unionist Party have agreed to set up “a joint working group to explore the possibilities of a closer cooperation leading to the creation of a new political and electoral force in Northern Ireland”. Slugger understands that although the decision was made just a week ago, the party’s talks with the Tories began as early as last October. The news appears to have come as something of a shock to the DUP.Perhaps it shouldn’ have. This was Reg Empey’s speech last March:
I have given David Cameron an undertaking that if he succeeds in forming a new group in the European Parliament after the 2009 elections, outside the federalist leaning EPP, then the Ulster Unionists will support him by joining his new Group. It is vital that we build a pan-Union front, involving like minded parties who believe in the constitutional integrity of the United Kingdom. And it must spread to the European Parliament as well. The Union and the United Kingdom cannot survive if those who believe in it fight their own corners separately.
And judging by tomorrow’s joint Op Ed, it is clear that both Cameron and Empey are after the middle class liberal vote in Ulster every bit as much as the new liberal Tories are in Britain:
There are too many in Northern Ireland who have been put off playing any role (including voting) in politics by the vicious sectarian divisions of recent years. We believe that the creation of a new political and electoral dynamism will attract a surge of support from people in every part of the community who want to leave the past behind and join together to see a 21st Century Northern Ireland in which every citizen is an equal citizen in the politics of the United Kingdom. We believe the time for change has arrived and we are determined to make it happen.
Northern Ireland has changed over the past decade. Much of that change was generated by David Trimble and the Ulster Unionist Party. It is a change which has now been endorsed by the Democratic Unionist Party and Sinn Fein in particular, who are governing together in the institutions created by the Belfast Agreement in 1998. Northern Ireland, by agreement of both sides, is no longer a “cold house” for either Irish Nationalists or Unionists.
There is now speculation building in Westminster that the tipping point was reached, not by the 42 days vote, that was got over at the first subsequent meeting between Robinson and Cameron, but the increasingly strident (some would say incessant) grandstanding by Iris Robinson on the subject of homosexuality. Indeed, if Iain Dale is any indication of the current temper of the Tory party, she may have caused her party some considerable damage in that quarter.
The DUP might also take note that the Ulster Unionists are not the rank amatuers they clearly were just a few short years ago. There has not been the slightest hint that negotiations were either ongoing, or as advanced as they clearly are. The Ulster Unionists may still only have one MP, but they may now be able to call on much more substantial resources of the Tory party. And perhaps too they finally have a purpose above and beyond the narrow protection of a Union that is no longer under coherent attack from those outside, but in danger of losing coherence from within.
And perhaps a future to aspire to rather than post glories to mourn.
…all the people of Northern Ireland need to be able to address and be fully involved in all the national issues that are not devolved – foreign affairs, defence, the strategic fiscal and expenditure issues and the broad thrust of social policy. Northern Ireland needs to be brought back into the mainstream of UK politics. It needs more full-time MPs working in the House of Commons, taking part in all the national debates.
It needs MPs who have the real prospect of assuming office as ministers in the government of the day at Westminster. Northern Ireland needs to be properly represented in the corridors of power – and Westminster needs to benefit from the undoubted skills of its people. For too long many of the most talented have been turned-off by a political discourse dominated by the politics of division rather than the mainstream political debate of the nation.
David Christphoer
I read this as part of a broader move in the Tories that will see the Scottish Tories become an independent party capable of making inroads in Scottish politics, which requres independence from England, just as the UUP will want to have independence from England too in their local branding. So while I understand your reaction I don’t think this will mean a takeover, rather it is a coalition or alliance of conservative parties across the parts of the UK.
David Christopher
It also gives local people a chance to take their political careers up to government level while representing their home constituency, if they are really successful and become an MP. So you may attract new people coming in to your party for selection. I think that the existence of pathways right up to the very top in a major political movement is an advantage in terms of attracting people to your party, people who want more than a DUP/UUP battle, who are interested in broader national level political issues.
Willowfield
Labour? Surely left leaning people who want to be in the UK should be in UK politics and join the Labour party?
Those on the left wing of the UUP should join the UK Labour Party and complete the picture regarding national politics. Andy McGivern has forced the Labour Party to allow members in Northern Ireland. My understanding was that if membership reaches a certain level then they will set up a proper association. Perhaps Andy could enlighten us?
Many of us may not have agreed with Labour, Conservative or LibDem policies in the past. But without proper local representation it’s no wonder that all of them have not been tuned into the needs of people in Northern Ireland.
Slug
With respect you’re missing the point – what happens to those UUP supporters and voters who aren’t Tories, who don’t want to vote for the Tories, who don’t identify with the Tory party??
I see the DUP taking a large swathe of the UUP working class vote, and AP and the Greens taking a reasonable chunk of the UUP middle class vote.
What does that leave on David Cameron’s dinner plate?
D
David Christopher
I’m not missing the point-I have already addressed your concern on that score. This alliance seems to be designed to address those concerns and they also exist in the case of Scotland where English Tory is not a good image. That is, its recognised that the Tory brand is strong in England but to extend beyond that a Conservative Alliance needs to form partnerships with different local autonomous parties. So I would expect the outcome to be continuity for the UUP within a broader federation, something that holds on to the existing UUP brand and adds financial resources and talent to it. Thats how I read it.
My point is that many UUP members who hold centre-ground or left-of-centre views won’t want to become part of some kind of centre-right to right-wing “Conservative Alliance” with the Tories – and what happens to them?
With this deal a whole chunk of UUP voters who supported the Party through thick and thin in recent years have just been completely tossed overboard here.
SLUG
I think what is being proposed is much more than you think, the UUP will disappear in its current format into something like ‘Conservative Unionists’ which will also incorporate the Conservative Party in NI. The members will belong exclusively to the Conservative Party and the elected members to whichever body will take the Conservative whip.
Frustrated Democrat
I read it differently but it will all depend on the UUP membership and I think the federation of parties seems a logical option for both sides. I also see it as what is logical for the Scottish Tories. Both UUP and Scottish Tories will want to be led by their local leaders not by David Cameron. And I think David Cameron would like such an arrangement too. So this allows for differnt policy positions/branding as suits NI and Scotland. This deals with David Christophers point I believe.
David Christopher – maybe there are a reasonable number of UUPers who see the link to the Conservatives as a negative and you are in the party so I respect your opioion. However I think the federation between UUP and Conservatives has a lot of sense to it and as I say the whole point of these changes seems to be to allow maximal autonomy for how the UUP would present itself locally.
The proof of the pudding is in the eating on this one although I am doubtful of how much influence the UUP would have in the Tories and how this will shore up or even broadent the UUP base in Northern Ireland.
How many unionists ever made it to British Cabinet level in the first 50 years of Official Unionist Party / Conservative linkage?
Lord Mawhinney? Kate Hoey? Not many I’ll grant you. But not bad when there is no formal connections.
The NI Tories also have news of a guy from Portrush (where Bonar Law’s people came from) who’s likely to get selected for Westmoreland. There are ways and means to getting to where you want to go, if there is a political will to get there.
BTW, out of interest, how many northerners have made it into the Irish Cabinet in the last 50 years?
David Christopher
This is about indidviduals or groups of members its about a broader vision
In the words of DC -David Cameron:
“We stand in all parts of UK, only party that does. We want to explore with UUP more than joint candidates and working together, I’m much more ambitious. We want to establish a new political force that is both Conservative and Unionist. Lets get beyond old politics of constitution and orange/green. Lets have a national party that can stand up for people on all issues. People who have not been involved in politics in NI before should be able to stand up and say yes I want to join in”
What will Fred Cobain/Sylvia Hermon/both McGimpsey’s and all those other folk who were involved in the Unionist Labour Group think of this?
Vote Conservative
The party that……
Prerogued Stormont
Imposed the Anglo-Irish Agreement
Opened secret talks with the IRA at a time when they were killing people and then lied about it in the House of Commons
Great Unionist credentials.
I liked JD’s comment in the news letter – the UUP life boat (i would have said canoe – more of a contrast and life boat gives the mixed message of somehow being of assistance) berthing long side the Conservative Liner…
“what happens to those UUP supporters and voters who aren’t Tories, who don’t want to vote for the Tories, who don’t identify with the Tory party??…I see the DUP taking a large swathe of the UUP working class vote, and AP and the Greens taking a reasonable chunk of the UUP middle class vote.”
Where is the evidence that amounts to proof of any substantial UUP working class vote likely to be so badly affected? On the whole Unionism is conservative and makes decisions on society based on that conservative moral filtering, which for a long time has been based on following old fashioned normative ethics.
Perhaps David Christopher, David Cameron may be more your cup of tea in the end rather than old Toryism, more in tune with his liberal leaning tendancies, rumours abound that he did take the odd toke of a J. Reg will need to work out what to do with David McNarry though.
There will of course remain the problem regardless of all of this of just how Northern Ireland reconciles itself with identities, one of which is pressing hard without much joy for its recognition at regional state level.
It is a positive move in that I personally view the Tories as more attractive than the local UUP, but I would agree that there may be a bit of short to medium term national political brand strategy going on here. The UUP want some of the more bouyant image to rub off on it at a time when the Tories are injecting energy into their political image. The tories are rejuvenating for change with at least a sense of purpose both relationally, vis-a-vis Labour and its own oppositional role, and in hatching new policy ideas, which is a good deal more can be said for the UUP at a local level!
I’m a democrat but viewing the weakness of local democracy in comparison to Britain, Reg’s incompetence, Unionism’s longstanding problems with discipline, decent polices and stable direction, will likely serve to make NI into a client state rather than the other way round with the UUP feeding into national thinking.
“BTW, out of interest, how many northerners have made it into the Irish Cabinet in the last 50 years?”
Austin Currie was a Minister of State – does that count?
Frank Aiken just about makes the 50 years.
Reading between the lines I would suggest that the UUP would do anything to try to revive their sinking fortunes. All the blog posts in the world will not change the fact that the UUP had many years to show what they were capable of, and they failed, miserably.
Maybe, in the background, there is a new generation of vibrant, inspiring, hard-working UUP politicians just waiting to blossom and burst onto the political scene, but if the same old tired, washed out guys still dominate the UUP, there is little to commend them to the unionist population of NI.
The UUP move has more than just a whiff of Enoch’s desire for NI to integrate fully with the UK. Are the UUP such sore losers that they would want to deny devolution to the people of NI?
So Slugger opinion is divided on whether (a) the UUP is going to be subsumed into the modern Conservative Party or (b) the Conservatives will subordinate themselves to the whims of local Unionism. Depending on which you believe, there are potential defectors to practically every party but SF.
My Granda told me that in the 1970s, it all ended in tears when (c) local Unionism thought that little Ulsterism was more important than the national picture. There are far more in the UUP than the NI Conservatives at present. Are there that many new recruits now knocking on the door? Can Reg and co rise above the petty squabbles of the Executive (of which he is part) and local Councils? I have my doubts.
Is IJP hinting at a Lib Dem-Alliance link? Interesting.
6countyprod
Deny devolution? Don’t be so ridiculous. That is not what is being proposed and you know it.
If you really want to maintain the union, you cannot ignore the rest of the UK. This is a positive, sensible link-up that strengthens the union and the UUP.
The DUP would have done the exact same thing if it weren’t for the fact they would fit in better with the BNP….
the by election coming up has the potential to further destablise the UUP – Conserv links aside…
the by election coming up has the potential to further destabilise the UUP – Conserv links aside…
The UUP has shown in the past that it is just as capable of sectarian bigotry as the DUP. For that very reason Cameron will be loath to get too close. There are 5 million Catholics in Britain and he will not want to risk alienating them by tying himself to closely to a bunch of Protestant supremacists.
Mick Fealty: Lord Mawhinney? Kate Hoey? Not many I’ll grant you. But not bad when there is no formal connections.
Kate Hoey was never a Cabinet minister.
BTW, out of interest, how many northerners have made it into the Irish Cabinet in the last 50 years?
Off the top of my head – Rory O’Hanlon (Native of Mullaghbawn, Co. Armagh), Seán McEntee, Frank Aiken.
Mick,
Kate Hoey and Lord Mawhinney both made it by being elected in England so I don’t see how they apply.
I was just wondering about how many elected Official Unionist MPs from Northern Ireland went on to become British Cabinet ministers the last time the two parties were linked.
I don’t know the figures but I don’t believe that since partition there is any kind of tradition of Northern Ireland Unionists making the jump to the greater British stage.
If this new move in rebranding the UUP proves to be more than moderately successful in electoral terms we may have to begin to evaluate Sir Reg Empey’s potential as Deputy to First Minister McGuinness after the next Assembly elections.
Ruth Kelly is a native of Limavady, though she probably kicks with the wrong (political) foot to count for Mick.
ELVIS PARKER
Labour don’t stand in NI.
GEORGE
How many unionists ever made it to British Cabinet level in the first 50 years of Official Unionist Party / Conservative linkage?
If you mean Ulster Unionists post-1921, the answer is none. Carson, of course, served in the Cabinet during the First World War.
DEWI
Austin Currie was a Minister of State – does that count?
No. He asked about Cabinet ministers.
Thanks for that Paddy, you hoary old wag. Of course I knew that but the English accent was a distraction not her religion (the same as my own). So that makes 3.
George,
Take your point, up to a point. Under new arrangements such people could move to England, gain seats there and remain in the same party as before. But three’s not bad when there is no joint party system between the two places.
Of course there’s something of a challenge awaiting Tories. With one MP who usually takes the Labour whip, they must also be counting on a gain or two. Although Dale is now talking about Trimble being taken into the first Cameron administration from the Lords.
Still, that’s the kind of thing that the working group will be chuntering through until Autumn. I’d set the alarm clock until then to see if and when it reports what, if anything, it has to say about that.
David C
That’s interesting.
I’m not here to discuss Alliance prospects, but rather what a UUP-Tory link would do for the de-sectarianization of NI politics (something I support).
My suggestion is that were the UUP-Tory link similar to the Alliance-LibDem link, this may help the process of de-sectarianization. UUP voters would not all have to be Tories any more than Alliance voters are all LibDems, but the links could be used to draw relevant support and leverage at Westminster.
However, it seems now that what is being discussed is abolition of the Ulster Unionist Party and its replacement with a new NI Conservative Party. That is a quite different thing, and may serve only to entrench the sectarianization of NI politics.
Basically, the Ulster Unionist Party needs to clarify immediately what it is trying to achieve here. Yet another mixed message will destroy this process before it ever starts – and potentially destroy the party itself.
The Alliance-Lib Dem link is useless. Hardly anyone knows about it. There are no obvious or tangible benefits. In fact, it’s almost treated as though it were a secret.
willowfield – “The Alliance-Lib Dem link is useless. Hardly anyone knows about it.”
Agreed. That’s why the UUP link-up with the Conservatives needs to be more substantial. Perhaps they’ll go for dual branding before moving over completely to the ‘Conservative & Unionist Party’ name. A party for all religions and none.
Are you a Conservative??
… before moving over completely to the ‘Conservative & Unionist Party’ name
The current full name of the conservative party is already [The] Conservative and Unionist Party.
Check it here:
http://registers.electoralcommission.org.uk/regulatory-issues/regpoliticalparties.cfm
Speaking as a non-unionist, I fail to see how this merger would benefit either party. In the event of a hung-Parliament, Posh Dave would certainly need more than the UUP’s solitary one vote to make life unbearable for the battered Mr Brown. I do rather believe that this is just standard window-dressing to cover the more inmportant task of kick-starting a revival in Scotland without it appearing that he is solely concentrating on the Scots.
As for Reg and the rest, I can’t see any advantage at all, rather, more disadvantage, as they will certainly not win any voters back from the DUP by appearing as more sophisticated, metropolitan and potentially at the heart of a new government.
As for the line about unionist voters being turned off by the DUP’s Norn Iron nationalism and Iris the Virus’s whacko pronouncements, I can assure you that the overwhelming majority of unionist voters (and a fair proportion of nationalist voters) would wholeheartedly endorse her views on gays and abortion.
The Norn Iron nationalism bit is also gaining currency among many unionists who’ve felt shafted and rebuked by London for so long (and the ref to the AIA here is particularly apt) while northern nationalists are damning about the attitude of the Southern political establishment (and their electorate) to their aspirations down through the years.
Unionists and nationalists have really concluded that we’re stuck with eachother, here, in this weird little provincelet.
With an overwhelmingly bigotted, small minded, and racist electorate who don’t like posh outsiders sticking their nose in – and reserve even more venom for ‘their own’ who would throw their lot in with said intruders.
A UUP-Tory merger was not the political dynamic Sinn Fein wanted when they signed the GFA and St Andrews Agreement.
**************************************
But most of all, for those whose objective is the de-sectarianization of NI politics, there should be no fear in the idea of elections contested between:
- an NI Conservative (and unionist) Party,
- an NI (cross-community) Liberal Alliance,
- an NI Green Party,
- an NI (cross-community) Labour coalition, and
- a constitutional Irish Republican party (let’s call it “Fianna Fáil”).
****************************************
I think we are stumbling towards such a conclusion. In most instances existing organisations renaming themselves – UUP to Conservative – SDLP to Fianna Fail – Alliance to Liberal – and a few refugees from the SDLP and UUP joining the Irish & British Labour Parties. The DUP/Sinn Fein axis is still there but in a less congenial and more complex environment than exists at present
*******************************************
The FF/SDLP point is a good one. I just don’t think there is an appetite for it in FF. Why form an alliance with losers, and damage your credibility? Derry would be a safe seat, but the rest would be a burden. And lots of the more progressive elements in the SDLP wouldn’t want it either. I don’t think that will really change on either side. Maybe if the SDLP falls to one seat.
**********************************************
Given that Fianna Fail would not contest Westminster, their Northern Ireland committee were open to having a “strategic partner” and declared their love for the SDLP at the Breakfast in Bed incident in April there was always going to be an FF/SDLP arrangement.
Patsy McGlone’s call for an SDLP/FF Pact on “a social democratic basis” (whatever that means) is really kite flying by the SDLP all Ireland committee. Expect the SDLP to be renamed “Fianna Fail-The Social Democratic Party” absolving Fianna Fail from organising in the north as the “National Movement” (as Fianna Fail calls themselves) would have a “sister party” that would be an integral part of the “National Movement” in the North. DeV turned the Oath into “empty formulae” in the Free State in the 20s – expect them to use the SDLP to do the same for them at Westminster.
*****************************************
What will Fred Cobain/Sylvia Hermon/both McGimpsey’s and all those other folk who were involved in the Unionist Labour Group think of this?
*****************************************
While UK Labour have not organised in NI, the Labour leaning UUP reps could join Labour on an individual basis and form an NI group of Labour Reps and members. Irish Labour has an existing structure and will pick up a few SDLP defectors, so it will probably be left to the two Labour Party head offices to work out a structure to accommodate their members
****************************************
“liberal leaning tendancies”
****************************************
“Liberal” in Northern Ireland would be conservative by British (and southern Irish) standards. That said Dave Cameron’s Conservative Party might well be an ideal home for them. The Tories might well pick up a few Alliance defectors and Alliance might well need to consider embracing a more explicitly Liberal message to keep their space.
********************************************
Alarmingly, a full 29% of the workforce are paid by the state against 20% for the UK overall. There needs to be a concerted 25-year programme to rebuild the private sector.
Dave Cameron
********************************************
I think Fianna Fail would agree with the Tories on this point and I think there will be an Economic Liberal V Statist divide opening up between Fianna Fail/Conservatives V Sinn Fein/DUP.
There was talk of an SDLP-UUP opposition to SF/DUP previously and I think Cameron’s point above will be the basis of a cogent narrative to NI politics as it opens up along alternative lines to Orange V Green. The divide would also reasonably break along class lines. In essenence it is the UUP & SDLP adopting new brands, but they are rooting themselves in a more national and (peversely) more liberal narrative
Willowfield and P&J;
Note sure Lord Alderdice would agree!
In all seriousness, the link is what you make of it – certainly we gain more in terms of strategic learning from the LibDems than we do from the PDs (with whom our link effectively doesn’t exist).
In very general terms, the link to other European Liberal parties has proved invaluable in terms of learning campaign techniques, most obviously recently in terms of revitalizing youth membership.
It’s maybe not so obvious outside the party, but there is more to politics than policies!
Mick:
Thanks for that Paddy, you hoary old wag. Of course I knew that but the English accent was a distraction not her religion (the same as my own). So that makes 3.
Kate Hoey was never a cabinet minister, so that actually makes 2.
Take your point, up to a point. Under new arrangements such people could move to England, gain seats there and remain in the same party as before. But three’s not bad when there is no joint party system between the two places.
I don’t see that it tells us much at all, or at least no more than the presence of Patricia Hewitt (Australian), Bryan Gould (New Zealander) or Paul Boateng (son of a Ghanaian cabinet minister) in Labour cabinets since 1997 tells us about the links between British politics and those places. (I don’t have the inclination to perform similar research on the birthplaces of the previous 39 years’ worth of UK cabinet ministers.)
It strikes me that you’re indulging in your frequent habit of over-egging the pudding (or as it’s more colourfully described, “wetting yourself”) over perceived “wins” for Unionism.
It might get the Conservatives one extra seat apart from Sylvia if the UUP were to retake South Antrim, but then David Burnside would have his own baggage.
It’s not going to make the slightest difference to a “sectarian” political division that’s actually based on perceived national identity.
“- an NI Conservative (and unionist) Party,
- an NI (cross-community) Liberal Alliance,
- an NI Green Party,
- an NI (cross-community) Labour coalition, and
- a constitutional Irish Republican party (let’s call it “Fianna Fáil”).”
I think you’re right to specify the cross-community positions as an alliance and a coalition. I’m sure we’re all completely non-sectarian, civilised and objectively utilitarian in our preferences on the constitutional question but unless we start including a border-poll in every election how do
we show our personal preference democratically without picking a party that holds our view? How does a middle class nationalist vote Tory on medium term UK management issues whilst remaining a long-term nationalist?
I don’t think a formal merger of the UUP and Tory parties is being considered here. Instead they may want something on the CDU-CSU model that would allow both parties to be formally linked but allowing distance when politically necessary for either one. (Social policy, e.g. moral issues, may be one difference.)
As for David Christopher’s complaint about “left wing” UUP being co-opted into a right wing party, several points need to be made.
The first is that there is unlikely to be any change in how the UUP operates at present in the devolved institutions.
The second is that he is fighting an old battle. Labour is not “left wing” and the Tories are not “right wing” as these terms now lack meaning. Both national parties are standing on the same ground with more in common with each other than appears.
Thirdly, the UUP has already lost any meaningful “working class” support in the main urban centre of Belfast to the DUP, to the extent that it ever really possessed it.
Fourthly, and perhaps most importantly, despite the events of 1972 and 1985, large chunks of unionism have always had a strong affinity with the Conservative Party and would undoubtedly support it if they lived in England. The UUP has not been able to capitalise on that inclination since before 1998. if it can do so now, it will certainly cement its position in the short term and demonstrate that it could one day challenge the DUP for leadership once again.
It would appear David Trimble has been working on this as a pet project so that he can become a Conservative Minister if this is the case the Union is down the plug look what he did under the Belfast Agreement.
What happens if Cameron becomes PM and starts reviewing the Barnett Formula – will the Conservative Unionists (incorporating the UUP) support huge cuts in the block grant coming to Northern Ireland?
Also, I have to say now, running Nicholson as a Tory candidate in the European elections would be utter insanity. I find it incredibly hard to believe that Fred Cobain is OK with this.
Missed your earlier Paddy. Touche!
truth and justice
Name change called for I think, you seem to speak of neither
Why can’t unionists accept the fact that they are Irish and accept the benefits of eneitable reunification of the motherland.
You may start all the pacts and mergers you want but at the end of the day the vast majority of Irish people want to see their country reunified… via diplomacy or whatever it takes.
The world sees you as Irish, start seeing yourselves as Irish. The so called ‘United’ kingdom is a farce. Every part of it is embarrassed to be in it apart from England of course… it’s days are numbered. From empire to struggling to keep together your fragmented nation… how the tbales turn my friends.
Slan anois agus beanneacht!
Do members of the UUP believe they can get a better economic deal for NI as part of the Conservative Party (or conservative merger) ?
What issues and goals are better promoted through the new structure ?
And on the flip side, do they see any reduced ability to promote some other economic or social issues ?
‘Do members of the UUP believe they can get a better economic deal for NI as part of the Conservative Party’
Well I guess they might have more influence in rather than out?
abucs and Elvis
Again, this is why an out-and-out merger is a bad idea.
Even in the “good old days” of 10-11 MPs out of 250-350, the NI Unionist-Tory bloc had no influence whatsoever (hence no ministerial positions).
With 1-3 (and two of those left-leaning) out of 350, this will hardly improve.
Indeed, the UUP would immediately have to give up claiming to support lower corporation tax for NI – this won’t happen any more under a Tory administration than a Labour one, and they know it. Does failing to represent NI’s interests really help given the nature of the local electorate?
Ultimately, this notion comes from the dreamland that NI is as British as Finchley. The problem is, it just isn’t! The (non-)reaction to Iris Robinson’s remarks in Britain just proves this – similar sentiments from a “Mainland” MP would have provoked hysteria in the London tabloids and elsewhere, but they all know NI MPs are fringe fundamentalists to be ignored as much as possible.
One noble Lord might get a junior ministerial post, but other than that NI’s MPs would be no more than lobby fodder at Westminster (often voting against their own instincts and their own constituents’ interests as a result). That’s the debate.
The more I hear of this, the more I suspect it’s going absolutely nowhere.
The more I consider your pearls of ‘wisdom’, IJP, the more I am convinced that you and anyone sharing your view is stuck in an ‘ourselves alone’ mentality, and are consistently failing to see the big picture. Can I just inform you that there is a world outside Northern Ireland, and there are those of us who want to play our equal part in it.