Letter: Mike Nesbitt will be able to broaden unionism’s appeal and he deserves our support
A letter from Michael Palmer:
The resignation of the Ulster Unionist leader Doug Beattie came as a surprise to me.
The UUP achieved its goal of returning elected representation to the House of Commons and achieving results that could be built upon in future elections.
The party is in a better position than before the general election, with its main rivals losing seats.
I don’t know the details of what happened. What I do know is we all need to support Mike Nesbitt as leader.
When Mike was leader before, we won two MPs and also had growth in membership (16% of UUP members joined the party between 2012-2016 according to research published in the 2019 UUP book by Hennessey, Braniff, McAuley, Tonge and Whiting).
Mike will be able to broaden unionism’s appeal and win seats like before.
Let us not forget: we have an MP, nine MLAs and strong teams of activists across Northern Ireland. Other parties would like to be in our position. It is important that we be positive and constructive.
The UUP still retains its purpose of being a moderate unionist party that wants to provide a modern unionist outlook as voted for by nearly 100,000 voters in the recent general election.
We are still very much a competitive party that can win seats. I’m in the process of rejoining the party and while what has happened has saddened me, I see it as a temporary setback.
I believe Mike will inspire purpose and belief in the party again.
Michael Palmer, UUP supporter and former council candidate, Newtownards