No Vote Prompts Panic Measure
East Belfast DUP MLA Robin Newton, has said the Ulster Unionist’s full page advertisement in Saturday’s News Letter is an obvious panic measure following the extensive criticism they received for their "no" vote on Policing and Justice.
Robin Newton said
“This full page advertisement was clearly taken out to convince UUP supporters that the party is united on the matter of devolving Policing and Justice but it ignores the facts. It ignored the public divisions in the UUP and it ignored the fact that the UUP had agreed to devolve policing and justice by 2005 to a SF Minister when that Executive had collapsed several times.
When their sole Ulster Unionist MP publicly confirms her deep dissatisfaction with the decision; when the former Ulster Unionist Home Secretary John Taylor speaks out against the Assembly Group’s decision then the UUP is not united.
Unionists taking positions that are at the extremes from each other are not good for the well-being of the unionist family. The desire of grassroots unionists to see co-operation across the two major parties should be respected. A working together arrangement in the lead up to the General Election would bring electoral benefits and improve the political relationships throughout unionism.
Rather than take out full page adverts misleading people the UUP should be honest about the situation.”
