MUCH attention has been focused this week on a political alignment between the Ulster Unionist Party and the Conservative Party and, while a complete merger has sensibly been ruled out, there are obviously some advantages to be gained from a close working relationship between the two parties.
Historically from the Home Rule debate saga 100 and more years ago, Ulster Unionist MPs worked closely with the Tories at Westminster and, until Prime Minister Edward Heath adopted a hostile approach to unionism in the early 1970s, they took the Cons
ervative Party whip in the Commons and the Lords.
For the past 35 years, unionist MPs returned from Northern Ireland to Westminster have steered clear of taking the party whips of either the Conservatives or Labour and, in policy-making and crucial votes, they have consistently upheld that their approach was in maintaining at all times the true interests of the people of this Province, in particular those who believe in the Union.
With Labour being a party with a strong and influential lobby of MPs who would favour a united Ireland, the Conservatives would have some legitimate claim to being a vehicle whereby unionists could with confidence develop links which would strengthen and sustain the British identity in this part of the United Kingdom.
Regrettably, however, successive Conservative governments have over the past four decades pursued measures and entered into sovereign agreements with the government of the Irish Republic which were not conducive to making Northern Ireland's status within the UK more solid and binding.
With the Tories currently in Opposition at Westminster, there are no Government or Foreign Office constraints to prevent David Cameron and his colleagues from entering into workable arrangements where not just the UUP would be a beneficiary, but also the DUP with its present tally of nine seats in the Commons.
A Conservative/Unionist coalition would again be under considerable strain if, in Government, David Cameron and his Cabinet decided, for political expediency, to follow the path of Edward Heath, Margaret Thatcher and John Major in needlessly bowing to diplomatic pressures and political machinations from Dublin and Irish America.
Whatever the semantics and benefits of a UUP-Conservative link-up, there would be much greater merit in the two main unionist parties reaching an accommodation which would result in marked electoral gains at the next General Election.
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