Letter: Well done Lee Reynolds and Peter Shirlow for your Safeguarding the Union event

Just a few observations regarding those ‘Safeguarding the Union’ events two out of three of which I had the pleasure of recently attending (‘Together UK event held in Belfast,’ November 29).

First, this is a long-awaited initial step towards defending the Union in the event of a border poll and we now have both the former DUP director of policy Lee Reynolds and Professor Peter Shirlow openly questioning the contribution of some of our politicians when civic support for the Union is rising as rapidly as party political unionism appears to decline.

Secondly, neither Lee nor Peter agonised on the effects of the Northern Ireland Protocol possibly because they know it is here to stay and, while others continue to talk our prospects down, they were focussed on Northern Ireland’s success.

In other words, how are we ever going to win a border poll by highlighting trading discrepancies between Northern Ireland and the UK mainland? Which is why, post Brexit, we need to make the best of the cards with which we have been dealt.

Furthermore, the event's title was somewhat ironic given that the Windsor Framework was hardly mentioned as both speakers were clearly committed to delivering a more positive, upbeat, confident message.

Thirdly, we need to replace the unification noun with ‘secession’ and abstract unity with ‘abolition’ not least because Lee’s statistics revealed that almost twice our population would prefer to unite Northern Ireland than vote for the abolition of our state.

Fourthly, Peter’s stats confirmed that Northern Ireland makes a major contribution to feeding the whole of the UK through our Agri-Food industry, London has a geo-security strategic interest in keeping us within the United Kingdom after all, Belfast is the seventh best performing region out of almost two hundred throughout the UK specialising in cybersecurity and medical research and a leader in renewable sources of energy.

This all means that London has a vested political, economic and strategic interest in our region after all.

Furthermore, Belfast remains in the top 25 cities in the world for attracting foreign direct investment with high levels of growth in information and communication related jobs.

Not to mention Northern Ireland’s recent artistic contribution in winning the Turner Prize, Booker Prize, European Union Prize for Literature, Women's Prize for Fiction and an Oscar!

Fifthly, my colleagues and I from the pro-Union Mainstream group are looking forward to travelling to Coleraine for the next meeting, in the new year, as we see this as an opportunity to expand our remarkably similar pluralistic, inclusive, futuristic agenda.

And, finally, these events, that Lee and Peter are calling ‘Safeguarding the Union,’ are the most significant pro Union initiative since 1974.

Alan Carson, Castlereagh BT5