Jeffrey Donaldson’s comment about the crucial nature of this election shows the importance of a large unionist vote

News Letter editorial on Saturday April 30 2022:
News Letter editorialNews Letter editorial
News Letter editorial

Our latest and last interview with the three unionist party leaders is today.

On pages 14 and 15 the News Letter political editor speaks to Sir Jeffrey Donadlson, the DUP leader.

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Last week he spoke to the Ulster Unionist leader Doug Beattie, and the week before that the TUV leader Jim Allister.

All three have made interesting observations and arguments. Sir Jeffrey says a particularly striking thing.

The first election he contested was in 1985, the year of the disastrous Anglo Irish Agreement. While that was a very significant year for unionism, Sir Jeffrey sees this year as even more so. He says: “I’ve been a candidate in at least a dozen elections and I have taken part in many more but for me this one more than any other election is the most crucial because it is about deciding the future direction of Northern Ireland.”

Lord Frost’s speech in London this week showed that London itself realises the grim far-reaching implications of the protocol on the Union.

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It is essential therefore that unionists vote in large numbers on Thursday. Not only that but that they transfer extensively between candidates of unionist parties to maximise the number of seats.

And further that they also go on to give higher priorities to parties that are neutral on the Union than ones that are hostile to it.