DUP needn’t rest on laurels as UUP is still a significant force - Kennedy
Monday, March 12th, 2007
Responding to comments made by DUP President James McClure in which he called the UUP a spent force, UUP Deputy Leader Danny Kennedy said,
“The DUP can keep wishing that the Ulster Unionist Party would disappear but Mr Clure would do well to remember that his Party spent many years as the second largest Unionist Party.
During those years he never wrote his party off nor suggested they were a spent force.
With 18 seats and a potential 2 ministerial positions, the Ulster Unionist Party is very far from being a spent force. We remain, and intend to build upon, our position as a significant force in Northern Ireland politics.
Our commitment to devolution and a functioning Executive has been made clear in the election campaign. We respect the decision of the electorate who want to see the outworking of the last stages of negotiations between the DUP and Sinn Fein. The ‘battle a day’ scenario that parties at opposite ends of the political spectrum offer is, however, likely to further alienate a vast swathe of the general public.
Mr McClure’s time would be better spent on tackling the real concerns of the majority of people in Northern Ireland rather than blowing his own trumpet.
The Ulster Unionist Party will be holding the DUP to account in the weeks and months ahead so Mr McClure and his party colleagues needn’t rest on their laurels just yet.”