UUP Deputy Leader disappointed by DUP attitude to Motion aimed at Strengthening East-West Relationships
Ulster Unionist Deputy Leader Danny Kennedy said he was disappointed at the DUPs reaction to a UUP motion aimed at strengthening and reinforcing ties between Edinburgh, Cardiff, London and Belfast.
In a statement Mr Kennedy said,
“It is disappointing, to say the least, that the DUP has responded negatively to my Party’s motion on a Royal Commission to strengthen the Union. Since 1998, the Constitution of the United Kingdom has experienced quite unprecedented reform through the creation of devolved institutions in Belfast, Cardiff and Edinburgh. Nearly a decade on, it is surely reasonable to ask for a Royal Commission to review how the devolved administrations are working with Westminster as the sovereign Parliament.
“While there are nationalist minorities in Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales, each of these regions have unionist majorities – with little evidence that this is likely to change. I am, therefore, at a loss to know why Sammy Wilson has talked up the chances of nationalism winning a referendum in Northern Ireland when such a prospect belongs to the realm of political fantasy. I trust that, despite the somewhat ill-tempered nature of its initial response, the DUP is not seriously suggesting that it will vote against a motion aimed at strengthening the relationship between Belfast, Cardiff, Edinburgh and London.
“The purpose of a Royal Commission on the Union is to ensure that devolution does what was promised – strengthen the bonds of co-operation and common purpose between the regions of the United Kingdom. While nationalists throughout the Kingdom obviously have a different aspiration, the Belfast Agreement declares that the wish of the people of Northern Ireland ‘freely exercised and legitimate, is to maintain the Union’. Our motion seeks to ensure that the devolved arrangements throughout the United Kingdom and their relationship with the Westminster Parliament reflect that democratic choice”.