Poll demands show up SF shared future claims: DUP

The party issued a statement condemning Sinn Fein’s hunger for a unity referendum, and said that “to draw political conclusions based on the number of Protestants and Catholics is simplistic and lazy”.

Meanwhile, the UUP said that the figures released yesterday “vindicate” the party’s approach since 1998, whilst the TUV contrasted the growth in the Northern Irish Catholic population with what he called the “near extinction” of southern Protestants.

The DUP’s statement yesterday came from Phillip Brett, an MLA for North Belfast, who is a relative rarity in the party in that he comes from a religiously-mixed background.

An Orangeman, his father was Catholic, the family lived in a Catholic-dominated neighbourhood, and his brother Gavin was murdered by loyalists in 2001 on the assumption that he was a Catholic.

Mr Brett said: “For the last 20 years there has been a trend towards a Protestant minority, a Catholic minority and a minority who don’t identify as either.

“Rather than focus on a divisive border poll we should ensure that Northern Ireland builds first-class public services and a genuine shared future.

“Sinn Fein calls for a divisive border poll on the back of this census publication shows their main focus is removing Northern Ireland from the United Kingdom rather than a shared future. We warned about this before the last election.

“It should be noted however, that over the last 20 years, the number of people voting for border poll parties has decreased.”

Meanwhile, the UUP’s statement came from former leader Mike Nesbitt MLA.

He said: “Our initial assessment [of the census results] is that the evidence vindicates the stance taken by the Ulster Unionist Party since 1998, recognising that we need to build a Northern Ireland in which everyone has a stake and can see a future for themselves and their families.

“Whilst much of the focus will be on the religious headcount, it has been obvious for many decades that not all Catholics are nationalists or republicans, and not all Protestants vote for unionist parties.

“[We are] focused on increasing the number of people who support and vote for the Union, regardless of religious affiliation or background. That is the challenge for the future.”

And TUV leader Jim Allister said: “The fact that the Catholic population in Northern Ireland has flourished presents a telling contrast with the near extinction of the Protestant population in the Republic.”

He added: “The rise in the number of people identifying as Catholics has been going on for decades and yet the nationalist vote in this year’s Assembly election is almost identical to that in the first Assembly election in 1998.

“The Union is a union with benefits for all, ranging from free medical care to financial wherewithal when it comes to Covid or energy crisis assistance.”

ReadMore: Sinn Fein call for border poll blasted as ‘simplistic’