UUP launches election manifesto

The Ulster Unionist party will today launch its manifesto for the North’s Assembly Election.

The 36-page document is expected to focus on a range of issues including the future the North’s education system, health, business, the environment, anti-poverty strategies and accountability.

The document will largely focus on socio-economic issues.

A party source said: “The emphasis is very much on the need for devolved government to return quickly. That is what the people of Northern Ireland want. They want to see us get in there with our sleeves rolled up getting to grips in a devolved government with the issues affecting their daily lives.”

UUP leader, Reg Empey, is fighting his first election since taking over from David Trimble in 2005 after the party was eclipsed by the rival Democratic Unionists at the General Election and the local government election.

Party strategists have refused to state how many Assembly seats they could take in the March 7 election.

However they insist that the mood in the party is more buoyant than it was two years ago and the message from voters is that they want to see Northern Ireland’s parties engage on socio-economic issues.

“It is time for normal politics,” a source said.

“Nobody has any great confidence that with the DUP and Sinn Féin in charge things will move forward. The message coming back to us is people want a devolved government that works and not one that will never be formed.”