General Election 'battle' between believers in the UK and those content with Northern Ireland treated as EU
The General Election will be a “battle” between those who believe in the United Kingdom and those who believe Northern Ireland can be treated as part of the EU, the TUV has claimed.
Party leader Jim Allister said he welcomed Wednesday’s announcement.
He said: “Having run away from debating the issues, there will be no place for those who embraced the division of the United Kingdom by returning to Stormont as Protocol implementors to hide now that the issues go to the people.
“This election will be a battle between those who believe in the unity of the UK and those who believe Northern Ireland can be treated as part of the EU.
“TUV goes into this election confident in our message of equal citizenship in a United Kingdom, a basic Unionist position yet something which sets us apart from all others in this election.
“With our historic linkup with Reform UK, TUV offers the people of Northern Ireland to vote for a truly national political movement.”
Meanwhile, the DUP’s director of elections has insisted the party is ready for a General Election.
Speaking to the PA news agency at the National Stadium at Windsor Park in Belfast, Gordon Lyons said the DUP is “ready with a message to take to people right across Northern Ireland about who is best to represent their needs and make a difference for them at Westminster”.
He said: “As far as unionism is concerned, we have a very clear message for unionists in Northern Ireland about why we are the right party to represent them.
“We look forward to taking our message to people right across Northern Ireland.”
Asked if the DUP has selected its candidates for every constituency yet, Mr Lyons said: “We have made progress on candidate selection however we will make an announcement on that in due course.”
Asked whether the DUP is concerned about the TUV-Reform UK link up, he added: “We’re ready to take our message out.
"We have a very clear message about why we are the party that people should be voting for to represent their interests in parliament and we look forward to explaining that to the electorate.”