THE DUP and the Ulster Unionist Party have been making tentative overtures to each other about some form of unionist unity or realignment ahead of next May’s Assembly elections.
First Minister Peter Robinson has rejected a call from UUP leader Sir Reg Empey for him to stand down as DUP leader, saying: “I have a job of work to do and I intend to complete it, with the support of the party,” he said.
But he added, “We must work together to convince everyone that Northern Ireland is better served by being part of the union rather than a united Ireland.”
There is some scepticism and considerable caution within unionism about the prospects of unionist unity. Nonetheless, senior members of both the DUP and UUP are tentatively discussing how a unified approach or some less structured form of unionist realignment would benefit the two parties and unionism in general.
The fear among many Ulster Unionists is that the DUP would “swallow up” the UUP. Equally, some DUP politicians contend that talk of unity is coming from the UUP in an attempt to deflect attention from the failure of the Tory-UUP alliance.
In January secret talks about the possibility of unionist unity were held at Lord Salisbury’s Hatfield House in Hertfordshire in England involving senior figures from the DUP and the UUP, as well as the newly appointed Conservative Northern Secretary Owen Paterson.
One of the participants, the UUP deputy leader Danny Kennedy, said yesterday that if there were to be real progress, future discussions on the issue would have to be on “values and policies”.
As a demonstration of the growing debate within unionism, UUP Assembly member David McNarry, writing in yesterday's Belfast Telegraph, said the UUP and the DUP "operating together" could "deliver 50 Assembly seats" next May.
And on BBC Radio Ulster's Good Morning Ulstershow yesterday, the DUP MP for Lagan Valley, Jeffrey Donaldson, himself a former UUP member, said there was no doubt Mr Robinson favoured unionist unity.