Alliance should designate as unionists to succeed at next election

If Alliance want to succeed in the next election, they need to think about a policy of designating as unionist based solely on political advantage.

Currently if Alliance declare their political perspective as other, no matter how well they do in the next Stormont election, even if they are the biggest party, they will not get the first or deputy first minister’s positions.

They could sell this new policy to their electoral base by stating that the policy will be to normally declare as other, however if it is politically advantageous to declare as something else and get around the deficiencies of the Good Friday agreement then they will.

They could declare they are unionist with a small ‘u’ because the current status quo is that people still want to belong to the UK.

A large percentage of people here in Northern Ireland have both an Irish and British passport, and they select which one to use when one offers a better advantage or makes travel easier.

In the same way, until the Good Friday agreement is reformed, Alliance need to become designation chameleons.

John McSorley, Belfast, BT5