DUP European election candidate, Jim Allister QC, has today urged the SDLP to come out of Sinn Fein’s shadow and move forward without them.

Jim Allister said, “Having been exposed not just as the compatriots of terror but, on the basis of IMC established dual membership, as the purveyors of terror, Sinn Fein responds with typical mendacity.  The distinction between Sinn Fein and the IRA is mere fiction, yet Mitchell McLaughlin and others insult the public’s intelligence by asserting it as fact. It won’t wash any more. 

This expose of Sinn Fein wholly vindicates the stance of anti-Agreement Unionists and once more illustrates the gullibility of hoodwinked Trimble Unionism, which time after time chaperoned Sinn Fein into government, on the premise that they were committed to democratic and peaceful means.  What fools!  Little wonder the electorate caught them on.

After the IMC report a key challenge which now emerges is whether the SDLP will summon the courage to move out of Sinn Fein’s shadow and work with other democrats to establish devolution at Stormont.  The choice has never been clearer for the SDLP.  Now is the time to move forward.  Is Mark Durkan up to the challenge, or will he poodle along with the IRA-driven Sinn Fein?”