Mike Nesbitt on Gavin Robinson, David Simpson, good grace and polls

In the aftermath of the Westminster Election the UUP are now back in the House of Commons. Writing for Slugger, the Ulster Unionist Party leader, Mike Nesbitt writes for us about election night and hits back at the DUP’s David Simpson. UK-wide, the 2015 General Election has been defined by the Conservative’s outright win, the tsunami of momentum behind the SNP and the failure of pundits and pollsters to call it right. Here, the latter also featured, but to me, …

Read more…

After #GE2015… The UUP reborn, or just lucky?

UUP gavel

Guess what, there’s another UUP success that I didn’t see coming. In my mind, though in retrospect it was a flawed form of thinking, I honestly thought South Antrim would fall to the party quicker than Fermanagh and South Tyrone. In fact they won both, and nearly took Upper Bann. Despite my own trepidation last year, if the Unionist pact played to anyone’s strength it was the UUP rather than the DUP. FST came in for them at a relative canter, reflecting …

Read more…

Now Westminster is settled, here’s all the other unsettling business NI politicians need to get back to

It’s back to work on Monday for our local politicians. There’ll be no commission on the union (though David Cameron should now outright reject the idea), no extra £1 billion of cash, and no immediate possibility of bargaining for the 45 ideas in the DUP’s plan. Though over the next parliamentary term there are sure to be plenty of tight votes in which The Northern Ireland Plan can come out of Nigel Dodds’ back pocket and be used as bargaining …

Read more…

Fermanagh South Tyrone: one day a unionist will stand on that stage as victor.

As a number of people have noted 5 years ago I did a blog in the aftermath of Rodney Connor’s defeat in Fermanagh South Tyrone. Many unionists (like myself) were disconsolate. Many unionists and nationalists regarded FST as lost to unionism forever. It had in Gildernew a relatively young MP who had just been re elected for the second time; a unionist pact had failed to defeat her and the greening of the west had almost completed, threatening to bring …

Read more…

The message for unionists: pacts work

One of the critical points in this election for unionists was in March 2013. That was when Martin McGuinness stood down as MP and in the ensuing election Francie Molloy was elected. Nigel Lutton (whose father Frederick had been murdered by the IRA and Molloy connected with that murder in the House of Commons by the DUP’s David Simpson) stood as a united unionist candidate. That resulted in a modest increase in the unionist vote which Mike Nesbitt claimed as …

Read more…

LGBT issues: Northern Ireland party views – UPDATED

(Updated to include responses from the Ulster Unionist Party and People Before Profit) Research conducted by Ruth McCarthy highlights some stark differences between the parties contesting this years Westminster elections in Northern Ireland on lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) issues. A series of questions were asked: 1a Does your party visibly support LGBTQ equality issues in your party manifesto, on your website and in election campaigning materials? If YES, please give examples. If NO, please state why. 1b Please give …

Read more…

Slugger Verdict: Ranking the PEBs of #GE2015

Well, it’s back for the 2015 General Election, the party election broadcast awards. This seemed to go down well last year. So, in that spirit I thought I would bring together another panel of judges to rank each of the party election broadcasts. The other judges were MCE Public Relations Director, Chris Brown and the host of the Profit Margin, Jim Fitzpatrick. Each of us ranked the PEBs out of 10, we then combined the scores to get an overall …

Read more…

Robinson, Nesbitt, Murphy and Long on Pacts

On Slugger we have the full remarks from Peter Robinson, Mike Nesbitt, Naomi Long and Conor Murphy.   Let’s start with UUP  leader, Mike Nesbitt,   The Ulster Unionist Party and the DUP have reached an understanding regarding the General Election. The Ulster Unionist Party will have the support of the DUP for Tom Elliott in Fermanagh & South Tyrone and Danny Kennedy in Newry & Armagh. In return the Ulster Unionist Party will support Nigel Dodds in North Belfast …

Read more…

Unionist Election Pact

The internet seems awash at the moment with the (fairly well substantiated) rumour that the DUP & UUP (or is it UUP & DUP…I wonder how many weeks they argued over the order) have agreed a pact involving four constituencies in the May 7th general election. Update – details now online in a press release from the DUP. NEWRY & ARMAGH – Both parties will support behind Danny Kennedy MLA FERMANAGH & SOUTH TYRONE – Both parties will support behind …

Read more…

Calling All Politicos: Pick your fantasy NI Executive

For most reading  this blog this will be the type of transfers you’ll be interested in. For just a few minutes imagine you’re the First Minister and you get to choose an Executive. Choices must be from within the current Assembly and sure we will use the new departments, Department for Communities Department for the Economy Department of Education Department of Health Department for Infrastructure Department of Justice Department of Finance Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs. My picks …

Read more…

Elliott launches his Private Members Bill to prevent the naming of public facilities after “terrorists”‏

Tom Elliott, UUP

Well this is always going to be controversial but the UUP MLA, Tom Elliott is launching a Private Members Bill to prevent the naming of public facilities after those convicted of terrorist offences. Speaking about his bill he says; Today I am commencing a consultation process which is the first step to introducing legislation which prohibits publicly funded facilities or entities being named after anyone who has been convicted of a terrorist related offence or membership of a proscribed organisation. …

Read more…

Jo-Anne Dobson: We need to inspire change rather than force it

Slugger will be running a series of articles over the next few weeks highlighting the issue of women in politics. First up is the Ulster Unionist MLA Jo-Anne Dobson writing about her experiences in the Assembly. A few months after I was elected to Stormont I found myself standing on the front steps of Parliament Buildings with some fellow MLAs to support a local charity’s latest initiative. The charity had sent us details of what they were promoting and asked …

Read more…

Robinson’s plan for the consolidation of unionism appears to be working

As we approach the end of February 2015, the window for electoral pacts is all but shut, with candidates having precious little time to build profile let alone momentum in a campaign.  To this end I’ve decided to look at the potential future for the two main Unionist Parties over the next 15 months, leading into the Assembly Elections of May 2016 and after. May 2015 – All eyes are on South Antrim and Upper Bann.  Nesbitt needs a win …

Read more…

SDLP: No to a head to head but would consider a more inclusive debate

This whole issue started two weeks ago when the Sinn Fein candidate for South Belfast, Máirtín Ó Muilleoir asked for a debate with the sitting MP Alasdair McDonnell. It is my understanding that the DUP Candidate, Jonathan Bell is also game for a debate. However the key question is what about the sitting MP? Speaking to Slugger an SDLP spokesperson tonight said; The SDLP has received no formal invitation to participate in any debate in South Belfast. While we would …

Read more…

Unionist Pact still possible

The saga of whether or not there will be a unionist pact continues with Mike Nesbitt suggesting that he may still be open to an agreement. He stated: “Without a deal, without an understanding there is a real prospect there could be no unionist representing the capital city of Northern Ireland in Westminster on the 8th May,” he said. “With a deal, who knows? Maybe three of the four could be unionist but they can’t all be DUP.” The seats …

Read more…

What now, and where now for a Unionist electoral pact?

Late last night the news broke that the DUP have selected Jonathan Bell MLA to stand in South Belfast in the coming election whilst today the Ulster Unionist Party will announce Cllr Chris McGimpsey as their East Belfast candidate. These actions have been deemed by the media to mean an end to the pact negotiations between Mike Nesbitt and Peter Robinson. Should this suggestion be true it places Unionism is a much weakened position going into May. In my previous …

Read more…

Does the Bell toll for Unionist unity in Belfast?

A bit of a surprise announcement tonight from the DUP .@jonathanfbell will be our candidate in S Belfast. With your help he can win. Every seat will count in the next HoC. pic.twitter.com/AAwlOLDxpV — Peter Robinson (@DUPleader) February 10, 2015 Bell who represents the Strangford constituency has been nominated to either focus the UUPs mind that time is really running out or have they possibly made the calculation that they might be able to unseat McDonnell without a unity candidate? …

Read more…

Mike Nesbitt should sit down with Peter Robinson and extract a win-win deal for political unionism

Many will be aware of the Belfast Telegraph’s interesting take on East Belfast this week alongside the excellent work of Bill White and Lucid Talk.  The results of this poll are not unexpected. Naomi won in 2010 by 1533 and according to today’s poll there is approximately 1500 votes between the two, meaning this seat is still a marginal. Turning to the key battlegrounds, Gilnahirk/Cherryvalley/Tullycarnet/Knock is 3 to 1 in support of Alliance over the DUP, with Ballyhackamore/Belmont/Stormont 2 to …

Read more…

Same sex marriage? No thanks we’re British

As of January 1st 2015 Northern Ireland is the only part of the United Kingdom where same sex marriage remains illegal. A new law on gay marriage came into effect in Scotland in December 2014 and the first same sex weddings were held at 00:01 on Hogmanay. A total of 250 couples have converted their civil partnerships to marriage since the new law – the Marriage and Civil Partnership (Scotland) Bill – came into effect on 16 December. Same-sex marriage …

Read more…

Ownership of leaflet that provided ‘catalyst’ for flag protests confirmed by DUP councillor

Today on BBC Talkback, DUP councillor Lee Reynolds finally publicly confirmed that the DUP and UUP had paid for and distributed leaflets described by authors of the QUB report as having a ‘catalytic effect’ in the run-up to the city hall vote,” The report states “It was this, more than anything else, which inflamed the mood at that point” listen to ‘Ownership of leaflet that provided ‘catalyst’ for flag protests confirmed by DUP councillor’ on audioBoom // The protests as …

Read more…