TUV breakthrough in Ards
15 September 2009
TUV has secured two Councillors on Ards Borough Council. Two Independent Councillors, both former Mayors, Councillor George Ennis and Councillor Terry Williams have applied to join Traditional Unionist Voice.
Councillor Williams, who was first elected in 2001, has held the positions of Chairman of the Council’s Borough Development and Leisure committees before becoming Mayor in the year 2005-06. He was also Chairman of the Council's External Affairs and Planning Committee, 2006-07, and was recently the Council's representative on the NI Housing Council. He is a past member of the RUC Reserve and is co-founder and Director of 'Christians Providing Care', working with vulnerable young people and their families as well as supporting projects in Romania and Russia. Terry Williams entered politics in 2001 with the sole desire of improving the lives of people within the borough and giving a voice to those people whom the system would dismiss as not being important or worth the bother and he has always endeavored to ensure that he represents the people of the borough in an open and honest way regardless of their religion or creed. Councillor Williams has always made it clear that as a Christian he will not give his support to anything which he believes goes against Biblical principles.
Councillor Ennis, elected in Newtownards town, has served as Chairman of the Councils Policy and Resources and Economic Development committees and held the position of Mayor in 1998-99. He was first elected to Council in 1993. During this sixteen year period he has always endeavored to ensure that the people of Ards Borough received as efficient a service as possible. He continued this same approach into his role as MLA when he was elected by the people of Strangford to the Stormont Assembly 2003-07. Councillor Ennis is a highly respected individual in the Ards and Strangford area who believes passionately that anyone who takes up public office must only seek to improve the opportunities and wellbeing of the electorate as a whole, regardless of their creed or background and this must be in an open and honest way.
Welcoming the two Councillors TUV Leader Jim Allister QC said:
“I am delighted to welcome two such experienced councilors to TUV. Like many ordinary citizens these two men found the admission of terrorists to the government of our land shocking and wrong. Now that we have demonstrated the existence and viability of a Party which holds tenaciously to the traditional Unionist values which so many people rightly espouse, I believe we will see TUV becoming the natural home for more and more principled Unionists.
Strangford is a strongly Unionist constituency and as we build TUV it is great to have on board these two new councillors. I look forward to working with them and together with the local Branch seeing the cause of Traditional Unionism flourish and grow in Newtownards and district.”
Explaining why he had joined TUV Cllr Ennis said, “Like many Unionists I was devastated to see IRA/Sinn Fein ushered into the highest offices in the land. The European election demonstrated the depth and breadth of continuing opposition to this obscenity and the marvellous vote for Jim Allister gave hope to many traditional Unionists, convincing me that all is not lost, but that in TUV we have a party of principle and conviction which will stand fearlessly for what is right. I want to help in that battle and so I am joining TUV.”
Cllr Williams said, “Being an Independent has its limitations, so in looking for a party affiliation I found in TUV the integrity, consistency and principle which I admire. Politics without principle and integrity is not worth having, so, for me, it is important to be in a party driven by conviction, not power. In my public and private life I try to live by what I believe in and in joining the TUV I am giving expression to political belief which is both reasonable and right.”
