DUP MP for Lagan Valley, Jeffrey Donaldson has called upon the Ulster Unionist Party to abandon their anti-Unionist unity strategy in Fermanagh and South Tyrone and South Belfast. The DUP MP added that people had a right to know if Reg Empey has been assured of a peerage by the UUP’s Tory financial benefactors. Jeffrey Donaldson MP said:
“We already know that in South Belfast the local UUP Association is anxious to see a deal concluded. Indeed I am aware of contacts at a local level between members of my party and the UUP over this issue. Local UUP members are aghast at the approach adopted by Reg Empey and the UUP leadership. Is South Belfast going to be simply handed over to the SDLP to satisfy Cameron’s cravings to run in every seat? Will Reg condemn the people of Fermanagh & South Tyrone to another four years of Gildernew rather than reach an accord with fellow Unionists in the DUP?
More and more UUP members and at least one Tory peer have indicated to us that they believe Reg Empey will be elevated to the House of Lords by an incoming Tory government. Will Reg confirm or deny if that is the case? He needs to address public concern that the people of South Belfast and Fermanagh & South Tyrone are going to be abandoned to anti-Unionist forces, as some sort of a grubby down-payment on a peerage. What has Reg been promised?
Reg Empey is not an entirely stupid person. He knows what the net result will be in Fermanagh and South Tyrone and South Belfast if two Unionists run. It will ensure an abstentionist Sinn Fein MP is returned in Fermanagh and a nationalist is given another four years in the House of Commons from South Belfast. That is not a pro-Union strategy. It is a scorched Earth policy.
The UUP is betraying the Unionist community in both those areas by their refusal to reach an agreement with fellow-Unionists in the DUP. Our deal offer still stands: lets divide the two seats between the two parties and let’s work together to ensure Unionism advances.”
