Tories and Unionists join forces
By politics.co.uk staff
The Conservatives and the Ulster Unionists have announced they will join forces and field joint candidates in the forthcoming European and Westminster elections.
They have decided to fight elections in Northern Ireland on a joint ticket and under a single name, which will appear on ballot papers as ‘Ulster Conservatives and Unionists – New Force’.
In addition they have launched a new website under the name of Conservatives and Unionists, using as its logo the Tory tree.
Despite fielding single candidates for elections they have managed to confuse the matter as the two parties maintain this is not a merger and insist they remain as two separate parties.
In a joint statement they said they were looking towards bringing normal politics to Northern Ireland and hoped to provide the electorate with “a new, modern, dynamic political and electoral force”.
Shadow Northern Ireland secretary Owen Paterson said: “I am delighted that the Conservative party in Northern Ireland and the Ulster Unionists have made such great progress in creating a new electoral force in Northern Irish politics.
“The immediate task is ensuring that the Conservatives and Unionists top the poll in the European elections right across the United Kingdom.
“That will send a signal that Northern Ireland is turning away from the politics of polarisation. It will be a verdict on Labour’s disastrous decade of power and is the best way of defending Northern Ireland’s interests in Europe.”
This message was echoed by Ulster Unionist leader Sir Reg Empey who said this was a massive development in Northern Irish politics.
He said: “For the first time ever we are offering the opportunity of putting Northern Ireland at the heart of UK politics and holding out the prospect of unionism being fully embedded in the next national government.
“No-one should underestimate the significance of this development.
“We deserve something better than being condemned to us-and-them politics and sectarian headcounts. I believe that this represents the something better.”
