Put unionism's interests first

In Northern Ireland it often appears that no sooner is one election safely out of the way before another one appears on the horizon. The recent General Election is no exception.

Among the main stories of the recent election were the defeat of Peter Robinson in East Belfast and the collapse of the TUV vote.

We are now facing two elections in the months ahead - the Assembly Election and Local Government Election.

It is now clear that the TUV do not have sufficient support to win an Assembly seat in Upper Bann and the fourth Unionist-held Assembly seat is under serious threat from Sinn Fein.

In these circumstances there is a way forward for unionism that allows the TUV to test their electoral strength while assisting the broad unionist family to maximise its electoral return in Upper Bann. The TUV should certainly contest the local government election, but it should formally stand aside in favour of the UUP at the Assembly election as after all it is a UUP seat.

The TUV should recognise this fact and also the fact that if this UUP seat were to be lost, it would not be to the TUV, but to Sinn Fein and that the TUV would have contributed to that loss.

The TUV should not split the unionist vote in this manner, rather the TUV indicate now, well in advance of the election that it will put the union first and not oppose the retention of this UUP seat and that it will put no candidate forward, but will actively endorse the UUP in their campaign to hold this unionist seat for the unionist family.

I would encourage Upper Bann TUV to do the right thing and to put unionism’s interests first on this occasion.