The Labour Party treats people in Northern Ireland “like second class citizens” and “shows no respect for its local members”, according to NI Conservatives’ co-chair, Trevor Ringland.
“Long-suffering Labour members locally have launched yet another campaign to persuade Ed Miliband to stand candidates in Northern Ireland”, Trevor noted. “Unfortunately it seems they will have no success. NI Conservatives believe that centre-right politics, focussed on creating jobs, standing up for hard-working people and protecting the vulnerable, is the right way to go for Northern Ireland. However we share with local Labour members a conviction that people here deserve a meaningful say in UK politics, which is focussed on issues and isn’t ‘Orange, Green or something in between’.”
“Whereas David Cameron is absolutely committed to bringing Northern Ireland into the mainstream of UK politics, Ed Miliband treats people here like second class citizens. Labour prefers to have an arrangement with a party which is committed to breaking up the UK, the SDLP, rather than supporting its own members’ efforts to stand candidates here. Under Tony Blair and Gordon Brown they were the party of murky deals, concocted behind the backs of people in Northern Ireland, and little seems to have changed. Labour talks about ‘One Nation’, but it certainly doesn’t believe that voters here deserve a say in it.”
“This May NI Conservatives will be standing candidates in local elections and Mark Brotherston will contest the European Parliamentary Election. All of these candidates will have the full backing of the national Conservative Party and the Prime Minister, David Cameron, who has spoken about fostering Northern Irish influence ‘from the council chamber to the cabinet table’. We believe that Labour has absolutely the wrong policies for Northern Ireland, but we would welcome the chance to have that debate openly, as part of forthcoming elections. For the foreseeable future, of the major UK parties, only the Conservative Party is committed to moving politics here forward.”