TUV’s deputy leader set out the positives of Northern Ireland at the weekend, and urged an end to a culture of ‘handouts’.

Looking ahead to the general election, Ron McDowell said that even if defeat comes, “we shall be dangerous”.

Speaking to the TUV conference on Saturday Mr McDowell said: ”The days of handouts has to come to an end”.

"Unionism can be down on itself at times, but not me. Don’t look around yourselves in life to see if you can find opportunities. You are an opportunity. There’s hundreds of you here – that’s hundreds of opportunities.

placeholder image — TUV deputy leader Ron McDowell speaking at the party's conference in Kells

"We’re going to be knocking door, talking to people in the street, challenging the narrative – and building a future we want to see for our young people.

“If we have a will to win, we can win. Let other unionists run after the Irish language. Let them play Gaelic. Let them be proud to be Irish. I’m proud to be British”.

“I want this enough to fight for it. I want to fight that my daughter will have a strong British identity. In the city her forefathers made with a heritage she need not be ashamed of. When the press invariably shun us, as they will. And when we’re scorned for our traditional values, which we will be.

“Count it as a joy to be found on the eve of battle. It’s still a beautiful wee country. Belfast is still a beautiful city.

"The leftist agenda that we know to be wrong – and we will be a people whose worth will vindicate our cause.

“We’ll ask for no more handouts – ready for the chance to stand on our own two feet. Let the withering laurels of position be a be a bauble to ordain a head with neither honour or glory.

"The Traditional Unionist Voice are going to fight an election we may not win. But we’ll fight to win. And we’ll believe in our ability to win.

The North Belfast TUV councillor said defeat may come in the election, but quoted from a poem by the Lebanese-American poet Kahlil Gibran.

“Defeat, my defeat, my shining sword and shield, in your eyes I have read, that to be enthroned is to be enslaved, you and I shall laugh together with the storm, and we shall stand in the sun with a will, and we shall be dangerous” he said.