UUP leader warns against unionists supporting right-wing parties

Unionists should be wary of what supporting right-wing parties could do for Northern Ireland’s place in the UK, UUP leader Mike Nesbitt has said.

He told party members that English nationalism was now a greater threat to Northern Ireland’s constitutional position than Irish nationalism.

Mr Nesbitt gave an address to the UUP party conference at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Belfast on Saturday afternoon.

He said that while unionists had “looked over their shoulder” at Irish nationalists as the biggest threat to Northern Ireland’s place in the UK, they had been “knocked off the gold medal spot” by English nationalism.

He said: “Last time I joined our team at Westminster I was struck by the number of MPs sporting lapel badges, not with the flag of the United Kingdom but the flag of St George.

“Since then, of course, waving the flag of England has become a campaign for many English people. Like Brexit, they see it as another campaign to ‘take back control’.”

Referring to a risk to block grants from Westminster, he said there was a “real danger of supporting the sort of right-wing parties other unionists currently find so appealing”.

The Health Minister also said that people calling for a border poll should be careful what they wish for.

He said Taoiseach Micheal Martin is not ready for a united Ireland and the DUP’s “full-throated” support for Brexit had put the constitutional question back on the agenda.

Referring to the 1994 rom-com Four Weddings And A Funeral, he criticised a united Ireland, calling it “Four Ironies and a Paradox”.

He said one of the ironies was that the DUP was “the organisation doing most to put the constitutional question back on the agenda” through its “full-throated” support for Brexit.

He said one of the people who understands that “no one is ready for a border poll” is Mr Martin, “hence his focus on the Shared Island Fund rather than a referendum”.

He also referenced the economic crash, the Irish economy’s over-reliance on corporation tax revenues from pharmaceutical multinationals, and Ireland’s low spending on defence as reasons to be wary of Irish unity.

In a united Ireland, he added, the Dail, the lower house of the Irish parliament, which currently has 174 members, would have “maybe 60 new, additional TDs representing what was Northern Ireland”.

“Around half of them could be unionist, or representing people who identify as British. So unionists could hold the balance of power in Leinster House,” he said.

“Why would a proud Irish person want me, or Gavin Robinson or Jim Allister choosing their next Taoiseach?”

He said Brexit was “destabilising, confusing and ultimately disappointing”, and that one constitutional “leap of faith” was enough for a generation.

Turning to domestic politics, he said that all mainstream parties have a reason to make Northern Ireland work, “even republicans”.

He said: “When was the last time you heard a leading republican politician describe this place as ‘a failed, ungovernable statelet’?

“It’s a little difficult when you hold the positions of First Minister, finance minister, economy minister and minister for infrastructure, is it not?

“Plus, come a border poll, and you’re voting in Dublin, or Galway or Limerick, what’s attractive about being asked to adopt a failed, ungovernable statelet?

“A place you may never have visited. A place you barely know. A place apart. I say to those calling the loudest for a border poll – careful what you wish for.”

Mr Nesbitt also paid tribute to David Trimble, former party leader and a key figure in the peace process, during his speech.

“Earlier this year, I joined Lady Daphne and the Trimble family at Westminster for the unveiling of a bust of Lord Trimble, which sits at the midpoint between the Houses of Commons and Lords, reflecting his time and influence in both Houses of Parliament,” he said.

“It is a truly remarkable tribute to his brand of unionism that there are now busts of David Trimble in both the British and Irish parliaments.

“A tribute as fitting as the Nobel Peace Prize he was awarded jointly with John Hume.”

He added: “Embracing diversity was his thing, uniting minds and people rather than fixating on borders and lines on maps.

“1998 was much, much harder for David – and yet he did it. This party did it and people are alive because of it.”