THE ULSTER Unionists and Conservatives insisted David Cameron was embarking on a plan to create private sector jobs and increase public sector efficiency, rather than seeking to impose cuts on Northern Ireland.
At their manifesto launch yesterday in Newtownabbey, Co Antrim, Sir Reg Empey and other Ulster Unionists mounted a counter-offensive after Tory leader Mr Cameron was criticised for suggesting that Northern Ireland would be targeted for public sector cuts were the Tories to win the election.
Mr Cameron was forced to clarify his comments in yesterday’s Belfast Telegraph where he said that revitalising the Northern economy would be a long-term project. “At no point have I or any other member of my team stated . . . we are targeting Northern Ireland for cuts,” he said.
The two parties, through their alliance in UCUNF (Ulster Conservatives and Unionists – New Force), launched their manifesto at Mossley Mill in Newtownabbey, which is in the marginal South Antrim constituency where Sir Reg Empey is campaigning to take the seat from the DUP’s Rev William McCrea. Tory shadow foreign secretary William Hague attended the launch.
Sir Reg said he had never “listened to such hypocrisy” as the criticism he heard of Mr Cameron and UCUNF from Northern Ireland politicians. “These are the same people who said in their manifestos, in the programme for government, in all of their comments, that the private sector needs to grow,” said Sir Reg. “We are not lying down under these allegations. We are going to confront them and confound the people who have made them.”
UCUNF was determined to resurrect Northern Ireland’s entrepreneurial spirit to help the 56,000 people who were unemployed in the North.
“The other parties argue against us,” he said, “because we have the audacity to suggest that Northern Ireland should not be left on the window ledge of the British economy, that we in this part of the United Kingdom should have the jobs and economic opportunity that come with a vibrant private sector.”
Sir Reg focused on how the DUP and some other unionists were promoting the possibility of a hung British parliament so that it could be exploited.
“Not only would a hung parliament undermine the ability of a government to take the decisive action required to take our country out of recession, it would hand influence to Scottish and Welsh nationalists determined to break up the union,” he said.
“It would hand influence to Lib Dems determined to see the UK in the euro governed by a federal Europe. Those of us who cherish the United Kingdom cannot be hoping for such an outcome.
Former UTV anchorman Mike Nesbitt, who is standing in the Strangford constituency formerly held by the DUP’s Iris Robinson, said the manifesto was laying out what would be a 20-25 year plan to fix the Northern Ireland economy.
“Does that sound like cut, does it sound like slash, does it sound like burn? No, it’s about build, build, build the private sector,” he said.
Mr Nesbitt, who chaired the manifesto launch, said the DUP leader Peter Robinson’s plan was to “cross his fingers and hope for a hung parliament” while UCUNF offered a plan to be “more efficient publicly” and to create “more jobs privately”.
Manifesto
- Strengthen the union
- Redevelop an enterprise spirit in Northern Ireland
- Local government reform
- Consider corporation tax cut
- Resist Sinn Féin attempts to destroy education system
- Make Northern Ireland more family friendly
- Give voters the right to sack their MPs if found guilty of serious wrongdoing
- An end to open-ended inquiries into the past
- Ban political double-jobbing
- More resources for the PSNI
