Burnside: Unionism set for major shift

There will be a major realignment in unionism in Northern Ireland in the post-David Trimble and Ian Paisley era, it was claimed today.

Ulster Unionist South Antrim candidate David Burnside made the claim after it emerged former party leader, Jim Molyneaux, will appear in his election literature endorsing him.

Earlier this week, Molyneaux courted controversy after he agreed to a photograph of him appearing in election material for the rival Democratic Unionists in South Belfast and Lagan Valley.

Mr Burnside said today: “Jim Molyneaux will be backing me as he has since the time I contested this constituency in the by-election in 2000, the 2001 General Election and the last Assembly Election in 2003.

“Jim is a constituent of mine and even though he hasn’t got a vote because he is a member of the House of Lords, he will be giving me his 100% support as he always has.

“During my time at Westminster his advice has been invaluable and has been greatly appreciated.”

Mr Burnside’s campaign team will have been boosted by Molyneaux’s endorsement following the row which has broken out in South Belfast and Lagan Valley over his decision to appear in election material for DUP candidates Jimmy Spratt and Jeffrey Donaldson.

Mr Burnside is once again facing the DUP’s William McCrea who won the South Antrim seat in a by-election in 2000 by 822 votes.

However, in the last General Election, Mr Burnside regained the seat with the majority of 1,011 for the Ulster Unionists.

This year’s contest was expected again to be tight, with the DUP emerging just 298 votes ahead of the Ulster Unionists’ total vote in the 2003 Assembly Election.

Mr Burnside said today there was a united campaign behind him in the constituency and he stood proudly on his record of insisting that there was no place for Sinn Féin in government in recent years.

The South Antrim UUP candidate added that it was vital that unionists did not let Sinn Féin off the hook over the future of the IRA and weapons decommissioning.

And he added that the best way forward for unionism was for a united unionist front to operate.

“Unionists should be working together to defeat the criminal empire of Sinn Féin/IRA and indeed the loyalist organisations.

“After the General Election we should be working together. There is no point in having two small groupings in the Westminster and we need a united front.

“I firmly believe that there will be united unionism post-Paisley and post-Trimble. There will be a realignment and I would prefer a merger.”