UUP Conservative link will bring Northern Ireland into mainstream British politics says Trimble

Mrs Trimble, the wife of former Ulster Unionist Party leader Lord David Trimble, may be new to elections, but she has vast experience in the world of politics and is confident she will be successful in the election.

"There has been a sea change since the election in 2005" she said. "Then people's perception was that the UUP had made mistakes and the DUP were going to save the day but look where we are now. People are realising we were right after all."

Mrs Trimble stressed the value of the new Conservative and UUP co-operation, which she said will bring Northern Ireland into "mainstream politics" and reap benefits for the country.

"This is a new project and people haven't grasped all it can do" she said. "This is the start of normalising politics in Northern Ireland and bringing us into mainstream political life.

"True unionism is believing you are an equal part of the UK irrespective of your religious or ethnic background. This is bringing civic unionism to Northern Ireland."

A former solicitor, and member of the Human Rights Commission and Northern Ireland Memorial Fund, Mrs Trimble has lived in Lisburn with her husband and four children for over 30 years and is passionate about issues effecting local people.

Her top priorities for Lagan Valley include seeing the John Lewis store built at Sprucefield, as well as the redevelopment of the former Maze Prison site and the retention of services at the Lagan Valley Hospital.

"I would love to see John Lewis in Lisburn," continued Mrs Trimble. "I remember when Marks and Spencer was built traders were up in arms against it yet Lisburn has prospered. Sprucefield needs to be a regional centre to be attractive to people coming from all over the island."

Turning to the Maze site, she said: "It is a shame and disgrace they couldn't get their act together in order to let us have a national stadium there. The Executive is to blame and it is dominated by two parties. The blame lies with Sinn Fein and the DUP.

"That site was gifted to the people of Northern Ireland and even if the stadium is off the agenda it is a site that is ripe for development."

With a child still at grammar school in Lisburn, Mrs Trimble said she had the grave concerns about the future of education and the transfer procedure in Northern Ireland.

"There is no point in going back to the 11+ as it was," she said. "A lot of effort has been put into the two transfer procedure tests and we need to see how it works out before trying to re-arrange things yet again. Parents and children need some certainty"

Mrs Trimble vowed, if elected, to work hard to ensure services were retained at the Lagan Valley Hospital.

"I think Lisburn people want services at the hospital to be retained as far as possible," she said. "It's important to all work together. If you can make a good case people in government will listen. They can be quite reasonable."

Mrs Trimble said she was looking forward to the election race and to having her husband David by her side throughout. "He is 110% behind me and has been very supportive of my decision," she said.

"This is such an exciting time in politics here," concluded Mrs Trimble. "People want to be normal and normal politics is what we are going to promise them."

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