UUP – Page 5 – Slugger O'Toole

Party Leaders reactions to Prorogation of Parliament

David McCann on August 28, 2019, 5:27 pm

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The SDLP Leader, Colum Eastwood; Proroguing your parliament to enforce the will of a government that has no democratic legitimacy for an act that has no majority support is the behaviour of a tin-pot dictator. Boris Johnson has stepped far outside the acceptable norms for a functioning democracy and he must be reined in. “This is a moment for political courage. Every MP should take a stand in this moment, to defend the interests of people across these islands but …

The cost of running: candidate spending in the 2019 local government election

Niall Kelly on August 10, 2019, 4:05 pm

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Spending by candidates in the 2019 local government election is now available and when we delve into it, comparing candidate and party spend with the number of votes secured, a number of very interesting narratives emerge. The headline figure is that 819 candidates, representing 17 parties (plus 71 independents) spent a total of £650,140 in order to win 462 council seats. (It should be noted that there are only returns for 815 candidates as 4 candidates either did not make …

How often do the parties in Belfast City Hall actually vote together?

Niall Kelly on July 1, 2019, 11:40 am

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One of the great debates, and I use that term loosely, we have had over the past decade in Northern Irish politics is whether the Alliance Party are more nationalist or unionist. Instead of letting Alliance, and the people who vote for them, define what the party stands for, certain elements of the political establishment, in particular political unionism, have gone out of their way to attempt to define Alliance as being somewhere on the spectrum between anti-unionist and pro-republican. …

The Alliance Party’s gains in the local and European elections won’t necessarily lead to Assembly election success

Peter Donaghy (Salmon of Data) on May 30, 2019, 9:02 pm

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As expected, Naomi Long won a seat in the European Parliament following the Alliance Party’s success at the local elections earlier in the month. However, it isn’t necessarily a given that the Alliance Party’s success at the local and European level will translate to success in any future Assembly election. This is because the areas that Alliance increased their vote in aren’t optimal from the point of view of maximizing their representation in the Assembly. Unlike the system in Israel, …

#EP2019-Tell them again: Northern Ireland voted Remain

Sarah Creighton on May 28, 2019, 10:38 am

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There are certainties in Northern Ireland. Everyone goes on holiday in July. A single crash on the Westlink will halt traffic across the country. An Ulster Fry is the best breakfast. The final truth: politics follows a script, the same story over and over again. We have our moments but we tell people that nothing ever really changes. May has been an extraordinary month for Northern Irish politics. I wouldn’t go so far as to say that the past few …

Kennedy “This is the time to vote for stability”

David McCann on May 17, 2019, 12:06 pm

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The Ulster Unionist candidate, Danny Kennedy launched his bid for the European Parliament today. Speaking at the Stormont Hotel he outlined his pitch for the third seat; Nearly three years since the European referendum took place it seems like we have made no progress at all. The 29 March exit date is long past and we seem no closer to agreeing the terms of our departure than we did on the 27 June 2016. Currently in British politics every day …

Post election analysis

Niall Kelly on May 7, 2019, 11:27 am

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The seats The ballots have been cast, the votes have been counted, the results are in and the spinning has begun. Despite thoughts before the election that both the DUP and Sinn Féin would consolidate their support and increase their seats, the DUP managed to lose 8 seats and Sinn Féin saw no change to their total. The failure of the two big parties to make gains did not, however, translate into victories for the UUP and SDLP, with both …

Centre parties have captured a significant number of seats from both nationalists and unionists at the local elections

Peter Donaghy (Salmon of Data) on May 6, 2019, 12:09 am

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With the counting now concluded in the 2019 Northern Ireland council elections, it is apparent that centrist parties have captured a significant number of seats from both nationalist and unionist parties. However, nationalist parties have captured enough seats from unionists to keep their total number of seats across the councils roughly the same, whilst the number of unionist councillors has dropped substantially. The number of seats won by each party/group in 2014 and 2019 is broken down in the table …

Centre ground parties advance and the DUP consolidate the unionist vote at the 2019 local elections

Peter Donaghy (Salmon of Data) on May 4, 2019, 5:26 pm

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The centre ground parties, and the Alliance Party in particular, have made significant gains at the May 2019 local elections. With all of the first preference votes now counted, the Alliance Party made the largest gain of the share of the first-preference vote, up by 4.9% from the 6.6% received in 2014 to 11.5% in this year’s poll. The Green Party more than doubled their share of the vote from 0.9% in 2014 to 2.1%, whilst People Before Profit received …

#LE19 Battlegrounds: Erne West

Victoria Johnston on April 27, 2019, 10:16 pm

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As well as sharing a border with the other wards in the Fermanagh Omagh District Council, Erne West shares a border with the Republic of Ireland. A border that has been much discussed in recent months as Brexit has unfolded. Indeed, some of the major villages within this ward have been frequently visited by politicians during the Brexit negotiations includin leading Brexiteer Jacob Rees-Mogg who visited Belcoo in June 2018. The ward is heavily associated with agriculture and according to NISRA …

Slugger Verdict: ranking the PEBs of #LE19

David McCann on April 22, 2019, 12:00 pm

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Our crack panel sat down and reviewed the party election broadcasts hitting your screens for #LE19. Listen to our musings – frivolous and more serious – about messaging, target audiences, music and aesthetics as well as politics in our podcast with Allison Morris, Chris Brown, Alan Meban and David McCann.

‘A threat to the union’

Paul Gosling on April 22, 2019, 7:00 am

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“Unionism needs to look and recognise that the environment around us is changing,” says former Ulster Unionist Party leader Mike Nesbitt MLA. He adds: “I would like to see civic unionism becoming more active… Perhaps we need to build civic society that goes beyond the division and the politics of unionism and nationalism”. The call for a strong civic society was made in the second interview in the series of more than 30 Forward Together podcasts. These were recorded with …

Jim Nicholson will not run for re-election

David McCann on April 15, 2019, 4:11 pm

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Story broken by the News Letter’s political editor, Sam McBride; “I said a few weeks ago that it was time to hand the baton on and that is still my belief. Therefore I won`t be putting my name forward to seek selection as the Ulster Unionist Party`s candidate in the forthcoming European elections.” Continuing he told the News Letter I worked with Ian Paisley and John Hume to secure peace funding from Europe and it’s something of which I am …

Poster Wars

Niall Kelly on April 15, 2019, 11:28 am

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Before the local government election notice of election was published on Tuesday 26th March we started to see the familiar sight of election posters appearing on lampposts across Northern Ireland. Love them or loathe them, posters are a mainstay of elections in Northern Ireland and in the Republic in a way that they are not in GB. Parties compete to be the first to get their posters up to ensure they get the best positions; at busy junctions and outside …

Council elections 2019 – all you need to know Part I

Niall Kelly on April 9, 2019, 3:47 pm

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The nominations for the 2019 local government election are in and a total of 819 candidates are running for 462 council seats across eleven different council areas – a decrease from the 893 candidates who sought election in 2014. The DUP was the largest party in 2014 and this remains but the total number of candidates they are running has decreased, from 189 to 172. There has been a slight increase in the number of candidates that Sinn Féin are …

Looking back at the 2014 Local Government election

Niall Kelly on March 24, 2019, 8:49 pm

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With the list of candidates for the 2019 local government election scheduled to be released after 6pm on Monday 8th April, now is a good time to look back at the runners and riders from the last council elections back in 2014. The 2014 election was the first to be fought on the new eleven ‘super council’ basis and saw a total of 974 candidates running for 462 seats, a reduction from the 582 seats prior to 2014. The results …

Swann “With the DUP at the helm, pro-union politics lies in the gutter”

David McCann on March 10, 2019, 7:07 pm

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Robin Swann spoke at his party’s spring conference yesterday; We cannot simply allow the last operating vestige of local democracy to be destroyed as well. The DUP and Sinn Fein wrecked all round them at Stormont, we cannot let them wreck Local Government too and bring the country to its knees. At the Party Conference in October past, I said that there was a battle to save the union from the DUP. I cannot say my view has changed. With …

Country before Party? A UUP book launch discussion

Allan LEONARD (Mr Ulster) on January 26, 2019, 5:55 pm

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Image source: (c) Allan LEONARD @MrUlster

At the launch event for “The Ulster Unionist Party: Country before Party?” there was a roundtable discussion former-leader Mike Nesbitt, press officer Lauren Kerr and Alex Kane (its former director of communications). They discussed the party‘s performance, policies and appeal as well as its future role in Northern Ireland politics. Read about what was said and watch back the conversation.

The Ulster Unionist Party: Country Before Party?

Soapbox on January 23, 2019, 5:12 pm

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The first thing to say in respect of this book is a big thank you to the leadership of the UUP from all five authors. The UUP has undergone some tough times over the last two decades but the five most recent leaders could not have been more supportive of the survey of party members underpinning this volume. The book includes extensive interviews with the UUP’s five most recent leaders: Trimble, Empey, Elliott, Nesbitt and Swann, to analyse why the …

Party Leaders reflect on two years without Stormont

David McCann on January 9, 2019, 11:17 am

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Two years ago today, Martin McGuinness announced his resignation as Deputy First Minister and the rest is history as they say. Fast forward and the various party leaders have been reflecting on the collapse of Stormont. Had the Assembly continued it would have been in the third year of its mandate. Michelle O’Neill from Sinn Fein; Through all the political breakdown and rancour of the past two years, it can be tempting to believe that the prospects of restoring the …