Several former senior Ulster Unionists, who are now members of the Northern Ireland Conservatives, have called upon their old party to disband.
Harry Cullen, John Lund, Bill McKendry, James McMillan and Roderick Oliver signed a letter that supports the formation of a new Conservative Party in Northern Ireland, which would include current members of the Northern Ireland Conservatives and the UUP.
Their call echoes a letter from the Conservative Co-Chair, Lord Feldman, who wrote to Ulster Unionist leader Tom Elliott last month, with the express approval of the Prime Minister and the local Tory chairman, Irwin Armstrong.
The former UUP members now fill a variety of important roles within the Northern Ireland Conservatives and reiterated their commitment to building centre-right politics in Northern Ireland.
“The UUP’s attempts to offer the electorate centre-right politics with a national dimension have long since stalled. However the Conservative Party is still committed to delivering to people in Northern Ireland a meaningful voice at Westminster - where issues likes taxation, the block grant and foreign policy are decided - as well as a new party at Stormont, which will work to grow the economy by encouraging a culture of enterprise, combat poverty caused by welfare dependency and help build a genuinely shared future.
We are a full part of a dedicated team of Northern Ireland Conservatives, who are working hard to achieve these goals. Lord Feldman’s letter to Tom Elliott set out a programme for building up a new centre-right, free-market, pro-Union party in Northern Ireland, within the auspices of the national Conservative Party, and invited UUP members to join us in this endeavour.
From our many years of experience within the party, we know that many Ulster Unionists share our vision. It’s time to be bold and to move politics here forward. Northern Ireland needs to be at the heart of UK politics at Westminster and it needs a strong, centre right voice at Stormont. That’s what we’re striving to create with fellow Conservatives and we hope that many of our former UUP colleagues will join us in this exciting endeavour.”
Harry Cullen was the former chairman of the UUP’s East Londonderry Association. Roderick Oliver was the UUP’s chairman in Lisburn. James McMilland and Bill McKendry were members of the Strangford Association and Bill was chairman of the UUP in Comber, as well as elections officer for Strangford. John K Lund is from the Lagan Valley constituency and John was secretary of the Moira branch, as well as a member of the UUP Executive.
Full text of letter:
Dear editors,
We are former members of the Ulster Unionist Party, who subsequently joined the Northern Ireland Conservatives in order to bring mainstream, centre-right politics to Northern Ireland. We wholeheartedly supported the Conservatives and Unionists pact, which gave voters here a chance to return local MPs to the UK government in the 2010 general election, but we were disappointed that its campaign was blighted by organisational problems and mixed messages.
The UUP’s attempts to offer the electorate centre-right politics with a national dimension have long since stalled. However the Conservative Party is still committed to delivering to people in Northern Ireland a meaningful voice at Westminster - where issues likes taxation, the block grant and foreign policy are decided - as well as a new party at Stormont, which will work to grow the economy by encouraging a culture of enterprise, combat poverty caused by welfare dependency and help build a genuinely shared future.
We are a full part of a dedicated team of Northern Ireland Conservatives, who are working hard to achieve these goals. Lord Feldman’s letter to Tom Elliott set out a programme for building up a new centre-right, free-market, pro-Union party in Northern Ireland, within the auspices of the national Conservative Party, and invited UUP members to join us in this endeavour.
From our many years of experience within the party, we know that many Ulster Unionists share our vision. It’s time to be bold and to move politics here forward. Northern Ireland needs to be at the heart of UK politics at Westminster and it needs a strong, centre right voice at Stormont. That’s what we’re striving to create with fellow Conservatives and we hope that many of our former UUP colleagues will join us in this exciting endeavour.
Yours etc.
Harry Cullen – East Londonderry
John K Lund – Lagan Valley - Secretary
Bill McKendry – Vice Chair Strangford
James McMillan – Strangford
Roderick Oliver – Lagan Valley – Executive member