Voters urged to choose pro-agreement candidates

Unionists should back the UUP in the local government elections and transfer their votes to other pro-Good Friday Agreement candidates, they were advised today.

Ulster Unionist Leader David Trimble and Stormont Environment Minister Sam Foster urged voters to maximise the pro-Agreement vote in Northern Ireland council elections.

Mr Trimble said they were offering ‘‘the traditional advice’’ to Ulster Unionist voters.

‘‘That is to vote Ulster Unionist and then vote on for other pro-Union candidates,’’ he said.

‘‘Who they vote for is entirely at the discretion of Ulster Unionist voters, and then they have got to consider what the local position is.

‘‘It is not in our interests to reduce the outcome for pro-union candidates.’’

Mr Trimble was repeating advice given by Mr Foster today at a press conference to highlight the local government campaign.

Mr Foster, as Environment Minister, said massive reorganisations of public administration, including a review of local government, would take place soon in the province.

However, he would not be drawn on how many councils there would be by the time of the next local government election.

Northern Ireland currently has 28 councils but there has been pressure for the number of councils to be reduced and more powers to be given to local government.

Mr Foster said: ‘‘Under direct rule, decision making was removed from locally elected politicians and transferred to unelected, unrepresented boards and quango.

‘‘Thanks to the efforts of the Ulster Unionist Party a devolved Assembly has been restored and local politicians are once again involved at the heart of the decision making process,

‘‘The next stage is for local government to be made more effective, efficient and accountable.

‘‘It must also be streamlined with more powers being returned to locally elected representatives, who are best placed to sit in judgment on local issues as they have their ear to the ground and can appreciate and grab local problems.’’