Unionists face call to reform or face extinction

THE Ulster Unionist Party must put its own house in order or face political extinction, a party strategist warned last night.

Alex Kane, an adviser to several Ulster Unionist Assembly members, called on colleagues to consider issues, including David Trimble’s leadership, if the UUP is to re-establish itself as the leading unionist voice.

In a speech to the south Belfast Ulster Unionist Association’s Breda branch, Mr Kane said the party had to face up to the reality that it was now attracting less than one in six of the 600,000 pro-union votes available in the North.

“As a party we have an uphill struggle; not only to convince the electorate that we are worth voting for but to convince our own members that it is worth staying and fighting,” he said.

“Our survival cannot depend upon a hope that the DUP will get it wrong.

“It cannot depend upon (Prime Minister) Tony Blair or the electorate riding to our rescue. Our survival begins by a willingness to face the realities as they are now. It begins by not being afraid to ask the questions about our leader, image, policy and legacy.”

In last November’s Assembly election, the UUP lost its position as the leading party in the North and in unionism to the Rev Ian Paisley’s Democratic Unionist Party.

The DUP’s Jim Allister also comfortably cruised to victory in the June European Parliament elections, with Ulster Unionist MEP Jim Nicholson polling just 91,164 votes compared with his rival’s 175,761.

In March, Mr Trimble survived a leadership challenge from members at his party’s annual meeting.

The Upper Bann MP secured 59.8% of his ruling council’s vote compared with 21.6% for management consultant David Hoey and 17.6% for businessman, Robert Oliver.

Mr Kane noted some voters had drifted away to the DUP. He also claimed some UUP voters in recent years chose not to vote at all.

The Ulster Unionists would, he argued, have to find a way to recover not only those who were now voting DUP but also those who had stopped voting.

“Actually it is hard to avoid the conclusion that the party has become little more than a loosely-linked collection of cabals and semi-autonomous branches and associations,” he said.