uuptoday.org

The youth wing of the Ulster Unionist Party, the Ulster Young Unionist Council, has re-launched it’s Lagan Valley Branch after three years of inactivity. Speaking at the launch from the office of UUP MLA Basil McCrea in Dromore, newly elected Chairman Michael Shilliday, commented that the re-emergence of a UYUC presence in Lagan Valley is a positive step for a party moving forward:

“In early 2004 the Young Unionists in Lagan Valley collapsed when Jeffrey Donaldson joined the party of protest. He left the UUP for an array of reasons, not least of which was Sinn Fein’s two ministers from 1999 to 2002. In 2007, Jeffrey Donaldson has been overlooked for Ministerial office, by a leader who has entered government with Martin McGuinness as his equal in all but name, and flanked by three other Sinn Feiners.

“The rise of the DUP has been at the expense of my party. The Youth Wing suffered most from the effects of 2004, indeed the Provincial body dissolved. Since then the UYUC has reformed, grown and prospered. In 2004, the Lagan Valley Branch was the only Young Unionist branch, yet today Lagan Valley is the 5th Branch, with the 6th being launched next week, and more to follow.

“Under DUP leadership Sinn Fein now have the chance of having the First Minister’s job, North/Southery has been expanded and the DUP have proved themselves to be opportunists working in their own interests, not Northern Ireland’s. Their record is one of self-interest, in contrast to my party, which used its position within Unionism to move Northern Ireland forward, and to entrench its position in the UK. The Ulster Nationalists currently in charge have been frittering away those constitutional safeguards by forming a pact with Scottish Nationalists and changing the rules for the election of First Minister for their own electoral reasons.

“Unionists are seeing through the DUP. Membership of my party is increasing every day, and the UYUC is growing particularly fast. Branches are forming across the province, and Lagan Valley is at the heart of that. Our members are drawn from every corner of the Constituency, and new members are joining ever week. The Party is currently engaged in a wholesale review of its structures and operation – the Young Unionists are at the heart of that, and will continue to be at the heart of Ulster Unionism.”

Concluding, Mr Shilliday urged young people in Northern Ireland to join the UUP:

“I joined the Ulster Unionist Party because I believe in a Northern Ireland at ease with itself within the Union. Our Unionism is based not on religion, race or a ‘little Ulster’ ideology. Our Unionism is pluralist, inclusive and rooted in our British cultural and political outlook. Our movement is growing, and any Unionist who shares our outlook is welcome to contact us to join.”