Unionists must 'stand up' for rights

Mr Harding said that, by voting for his party, people have a chance to get direct representation in Government at Westminster.

He also issued a rally call to unionists to stake their claim to ownership of Londonderry and to their rights to equality of treatment and parity of esteem.

He urged the electorate to remind politicians that they were, in effect, their bosses.

“We belong to the people,” he said. “We are in our jobs because people vote for us. I want to represent the people here and I think it’s essential that people vote - otherwise they are just giving in.”

He also said Northern Ireland was starting to develop a vision of where it wants to go, and therefore a vote now is not just a vote for the next five years of political representation in Parliament, but was also “looking ten, 15 or 20 years down the line”.

Mr Harding added: If Londonderry fails, the whole of the Northern Ireland project fails as part of the United Kingdom. We have to maintain this city, we have to develop it and convert the great phrases we hear, like equality and parity of esteem into something that really matters, so young people will want to stay here and feel ownership.

“It’s their city and they need to tell the people that represent them what they want, they need to say what it’s like for the Protestant, Unionist and Loyalist people on the street.”

Mr Harding said businesses had come under attack by Derry City Council’s bid to change the city’s name.

“If they cherish Britishness, the only vote people can make is for us,” he continued.

He concluded: “Labour hasn’t done much for this area, and we are the only people offering the electorate a chance to vote for us, and against the Labour government. And the Conservatives will be unequivocal in saying what Northern Ireland’s role is within the UK - they will not negotiate on the point that we are part of the UK, whereas Labour is equivocal on that point. They want the problem to disappear but the Conservatives are pro-Union, they believe in what the Union means and that gives us a better bargaining chip.”