The Factory, MAC Belfast, Thursday 14th June 2012.
Speaking at the launch of the Northern Ireland Conservative Party, the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, the Rt Hon Owen Paterson MP, will say:
‘It’s a great pleasure to be here this morning.
‘To celebrate the launch of an exciting, modern, centre right, pro-union party for Northern Ireland.
‘It’s a party that will stand up for Northern Ireland and put Northern Ireland first.
‘But it’s also a party that will play its full part in the mainstream of United Kingdom politics.
‘Nobody here should be in any doubt about my support for bringing national politics to Northern Ireland.
‘People in Northern Ireland should be able to vote for parties that take decisions over their lives at Stormont.
‘And they should be able to vote for parties that govern them in Westminster too.
‘Only the Conservative Party can currently offer people in Northern Ireland this choice.
‘I’ve always said that I want to see Conservative MPs from Northern Ireland serving as ministers in a Conservative Government.
‘As the Prime Minister has put it on many occasions…
“Why is it that there are great men and women from Northern Ireland at the top in business, sport, the arts and the military yet nobody from Northern Ireland serves in the UK Government?”
‘It’s because when it comes to Westminster politics here is semi-detached, cut off from the mainstream.
‘That‘s something we are determined to end.
‘And I remain as committed to it as ever.
‘Let me say a word about the partnership I envisage between you, as local party members, and me as Secretary of State.
‘It goes without saying that my door is open.
‘I look to you to support me and the Government as a whole as we take the difficult decisions to turn around our country after the mess left by Labour.
‘Yet in those areas that are devolved to Stormont you are entirely free to go your own way…
… on issues like health, education or whether there should be a government and opposition in the Assembly.
‘Our manifesto at the last election was clear on this issue.
‘We stand by the political institutions established over the past 14 years and want to see devolution work.
‘In time we would like to see a more normal system evolve, with a government and an opposition.
‘But this is something that could only happen following consultation and agreement among parties in the Assembly.
‘That remains the Government’s position, as the Prime Minister repeated in his speech to the Northern Ireland Assembly last June.
‘It is not something we can or intend to impose.
‘But if you, as local Conservatives, wish to make that a central part of your electoral platform you are entirely free to do so.
‘And the more Conservatives we have elected to Stormont then the greater the chance of moving politics on.
‘I believe that there is an increasing public appetite to move away from the old politics, based on purely constitutional issues, to a politics based on the issues that affect people in their daily lives.
‘There’s a strong desire to move beyond the politics of the peace process to the politics of delivery.
‘Local Conservatives can play a key role in this.
‘By being the voice of modern, compassionate centre-right Conservative values and policies in Northern Ireland.
‘By rolling up your sleeves and getting involved in addressing the concerns of the community at all levels.
‘And by offering people in Northern Ireland the chance to participate fully in a national party of government.’