North electoral pact offer remains open
The offer of an electoral pact between parties supporting the Good Friday Agreement remained open today as the Northern Ireland parties prepared to nominate Westminster candidates.
The leader of the cross community Alliance Party, Sean Neeson today offered eleventh hour talks on the nomination of agreed pro-Agreement candidates despite no reciprocal moves by David Trimble’s Ulster Unionists and John Hume’s nationalist SDLP.
Mr Neeson, whose party has already stepped aside in five constituencies in favour of pro-Agreement candidates, said it was still possible to reach deals in key battlegrounds like North Down, East Belfast and South Belfast.
The East Antrim Assembly member said: ‘‘The door is still open to talks on this issue as we approach nomination time.
‘‘I honestly think Alliance has gone as far as it can in reaching out to the other parties and make concessions to ensure as many as pro-Agreement MPs are returned.
‘‘I would like to see recognition of what we have done and recognition of how important it is to return as many pro-Agreement MPs as possible.’’
The Alliance Party would like former Belfast Lord Mayor David Alderdice to have a clear run at Democratic Unionist deputy leader Peter Robinson’s East Belfast, with the UUP and SDLP standing aside.
However, the party has faced calls from the Ulster Unionists to step down in East Belfast in favour of its candidate, Tim Lemon.
The UUP also wants the Alliance’s candidate in North Down, Stephen Farry, to step down to boost the vote of its candidate Sylvia Hermon, wife of the former RUC Chief Constable Sir John Hermon, as she tries to oust UK Unionist leader Robert McCartney.
Mr Neeson, who has held talks with the Ulster Unionists, today criticised the SDLP’s response to his party’s idea of an electoral pact.
The East Antrim MLA argued: ‘‘I think it is unfortunate when we embarked on this exercise two months ago the SDLP in particular did not grasp the opportunity to at least engage with ourselves.
‘‘There was a very informal meeting but there was no serious effort to address the issue. The SDLP could have done a lot more to assist other pro-Agreement parties instead of pursuing their own interests.’’
The Alliance leader and the party’s Assembly chief whip David Ford said they would not step aside in South Antrim, where Ulster Unionist David Burnside is trying to unseat the DUP’s Rev William McCrea, and Strangford, where UUP candidate David McNarry is facing a tough battle to defend John Taylor’s seat from the DUP’s Iris Robinson.
Mr Neeson said his party was contesting these seats because Mr Burnside was not a pro-Agreement candidate and there were doubts about Mr McNarry.
South Antrim MLA and Westminster candidate David Ford added: ‘‘How can you support any agreement with David Burnside, an Ulster Unionist candidate who is against the Agreement?’’
