Shameful Betrayal on Councils
02 May 2013
Commenting on today's announcement of new ward boundaries TUV leader Jim Allister said:
"The new council boundaries are a complete dog's dinner. In relation to a whole host of areas they make completely no sense. Castlereagh has gone in with Lisburn and Omagh with Fermanagh, areas which have no natural affinity or historic ties. Ballymena, instead of being partnered with its natural north Antrim hinterland of Ballymoney will bizarrely be twinned with Carrickfergus. There is nothing sensible or logical about the new councils.
"The greatest betrayal with regards to Unionism has been the surrender of the capital city. When DoE Minister, Edwin Poots would have had us believe that he was prepared to die in a ditch over Dunmurry because he was not going to copper-fasten a nationalist majority in the city of Belfast. Of course, once the election was over and it had served its electoral purpose, it was jettisoned. In the Executive, there was no more opposition to Dunmurry going into Belfast; rather, they embraced the lunacy of divorcing Castlereagh from its natural attachment to Belfast and putting it in with Lisburn to give in to the Sinn Féin demand for a nationalist-dominated Belfast. What was the great concession that was then won by the DUP to enable it to endorse the 11-council programme? Well it was important to protect Castlereagh's rates base by transferring Forestside out of Belfast into Castlereagh but Dunmurry was forgotten about.
"This effectively guaranteed that Unionists will be unable to regain control of City Hall.
"There was no effort to naturally extend Belfast to Dundonald or Rathcoole which would have made geographic and political sense and secured a Unionist majority for Belfast.
"This shameful betrayal of the Unionist people of Belfast will have long reaching consequences, not least for the prospects of seeing the Union Flag back on City Hall 365 days a year."
