DUP MLA describes Sinn Fein claim that people are turning on the Union across the UK as 'ridiculous'
The DUP has hit back at a Sinn Fein claim that voters are abandoning the Union.
North Antrim MLA Paul Frew said the claim, put forward by Caoimhe Archibald after the success of Plaid Cymru and the SNP in Welsh and Scottish elections, is “ridiculous”.
The most recent (2024) NI Life and Times survey, run by Ulster University, found that 42% of the 1,199 people interviewed would opt to remain in the UK, while 36% would vote to leave, and 11% were undecided (with the rest saying they wouldn’t vote).
Mr Frew told the News Letter: “There are pro-Union majorities across every part of the United Kingdom, and here in Northern Ireland, the combined vote of those parties who seek the abolition of Northern Ireland has barely shifted in more than 25 years.
"Caoimhe Archibald’s ridiculous claims today are no different to IRA propaganda declaring that 1972 would be the ‘year of victory’.
"It’s about distracting people, and primarily distracting their own supporters.
"Today they want to distract from the Sinn Fein’s record, whether that’s an infrastructure minister who can’t build roads, an economy minister who is better at losing jobs than attracting them and a First Minister ‘for all’ who’s more often the First Minister gone AWOL.
"Whether it’s confected Sinn Fein rows in Assembly Committees, or ridiculous claims about a united Ireland, these tactics all have one thing in common: they are increasingly transparent attempts to distract from a dismal record of Sinn Fein failure.”
He was reacting to comments from economy minister Dr Archibald on the BBC’s Sunday Politics programme.
She had said: "People are continuing to turn away from the Union, they recognise it is not in their interest, that chaos, the introspection, the looking inwards economically and having this constant debate around being part of Europe or not being part of Europe, the infighting within the political parties about who is leader, it does not serve the interests of people here...
"It does not matter who is in Number 10, they are not going to prioritise the interests of people here.
"What we are seeing is more and more people who are turning away from the union with Britain and recognising there is an alternative."