Councillor Christopher Stalford

Below is the text of a letter printed in the Belfast News Letter in response to a letter by Johnny Andrews, UUP Party Officer:

"I respond to the missive from Ulster Unionist Party officer Johnny Andrews (July 26) entitled "Only the UUP can make Ulster work".
Mr Andrews makes several points which I feel are worthy of response. Firstly, he claims "the Union has indeed strengthened as a result of the vision and decisions taken by the UUP in 1998".This is one of the best examples of historical revisionism seen on the pages of this newspaper.Does Mr Andrews seriously think people are so quick to forget what the outworking of the UUP's ill-fated decision to support the Belfast Agreement was?Terrorists released on to the streets after serving only a fraction of their sentences (Sean Kelly served less than a year in prison for every person he murdered on the Shankill Road); name, badge and ethos of the RUC destroyed; 50-50 PSNI recruitment amounting to institutionalised discrimination against the entire Protestant community; Sinn Fein/IRA in government three times without credible decommissioning.If the creation of a lawless society and subvention of democracy in Ulster was the UUP aim in 1998, they certainly excelled themselves, but in terms of strengthening the Union they have been found severely wanting.Secondly, Mr Andrews' lame defence of the decision of Sir Reg Empey to link up with the political representatives of the UVF will be treated with contempt by all right-thinking people everywhere.Unlike Mr Andrews, I come from a working-class loyalist community and I find his statement, "we cannot ignore these deprived loyalist areas; we have an obligation to bring them in from the cold", to be both patronising and self-serving.People know the UUP's dalliance with the PUP had nothing whatsoever to do with engaging loyalist communities and had everything to do with selfish political opportunism.Don't forget they approached at least two MLAs before approaching David Ervine. The UUP were so desperate to get their hands on a third executive ministry that they linked their party directly to an armed and active paramilitary group.Mr Andrews may dress it up in whatever fashion he likes, but he deludes nobody. People know the truth. They know that with the DUP you get honesty, hard work and integrity – values the UUP has yet to discover."

- Councillor Christopher Stalford,DUP Belfast.

# posted by Christopher Stalford @ Saturday, July 29, 2006