Page 33 - Unionism News Today : Breaking News, Live Updates & Top Stories | Vimarsana

Has flash photography. the political landscape of northern ireland is changing. unionism, the belief that northern ireland should remain part of the uk, is no longer the dominant force. as the democratic unionist party, for a second time in 12 months, has been overtaken by sinn fein. it was inevitable that it would be that way, because people, well, my idea, you vote for people who are going to do the job. ijust think it was coming, the dup haven't been standing around doing anything, so... that is what it is down to, a lack of government? lack of government, yeah. someone has to make really v...

Was about positive leadership, it was about a restoration of the executive, it was about making politics work, and i'm very glad that that has resonated with the electorate and that they have come out in such strong numbers where we now are on course to have a very momentous election result. and then it is now obviously what we are going to do next, which is, in my opinion, we need to work, double down in terms of getting an executive restored. northern ireland is currently being run by civil servants while the dup are preventing a return to power—sharing as a protest over the brexit arrange...

While the dup�*s vote largely held up, the unionist vote overall has splintered in recent years and they've paid a price. there's no getting away from the fact that unionism needs to take a long, hard look at how we manage elections. splintering of the unionist vote, the turnout, the differential in turnout between areas. these are issues that we do need to address and i'm happy to sit down with my fellow unionists and examine these issues. the dup�*s refusal to re—enter power—sharing at stormont was used by sinn fein as a campaigning tool and it appears to have worked. the sense that ...

It�*s becoming a familiar story on this island. a surge for sinn fein on an elections results day. this time last year, the party became the largest party in the devolved government at stormont. today they repeated that in the local council elections overtaking the dup. it was about a message of telling people what we were for. it was about electing hard working councillors. but for me it definitely was about positive leadership. it was about a restoration of the executive. it was about making politics work. and i�*m very glad that that has resonated with the electorate and that they have ...

The windsor framework is a breakthrough moment, it solves practical problems and crucially strengthens northern ireland's place in our union and uk internal market. it gives the assembly significant new powers ready for when it sets again and i am confident we can build broad support for it across all communities. i show people's frustrations that the institutions are not back up and running, but that points to our second task. we must keep working to persuade all parts of the community that returning to the institutions is the best path and we will do that. we will talk, we will listen, we wi...