UUP boss Doug Beattie says pacts cost unionism votes - and feed other parties

Asked by the BBC’s Stephen Nolan if there is any strategy in the UUP’s thinking with regard to the dangers of splitting the unionist vote, the Ulster Unionist leader said: “This is [where] people get confused Stephen. There are people out there who aren’t unionist or pro-Union who will vote for the DUP and nobody else. There are people out there who will vote for the Ulster Unionist Party and they will vote for nobody else. If you’re not there to give them somebody to vote for, you lose the vote.

“Unionism will lose that vote and we don’t want to lose people from unionism. Every time we retract, every time we circle the wagons, every time we stand aside – we lose unionists. And that only feeds other political parties and it doesn’t make sense.

“So it’s not a case of trying to split the vote. It’s not a case of being a spoiler. It’s a case of, where we’re standing we think we can win. And therefore we will put a candidate forward who is credible to win that seat. And we will put forward policies that are credible and then let the people decide.

He said Westminster loses out by not having a “moderate, inclusive, optimistic” Ulster Unionist voice.

Earlier this year, the UUP leader had to distance himself from comments made by his North Down candidate Col Tim Collins on issues such as immigration and welfare.

In an interview with the News Letter Mr Collins said: “In the privacy of the polling booth, when people had the choice to pay 60 euros for every visit to the doctor, and 60 euros for every every prescription – if Disability Living Allowance went away and people had to get up in the morning and go to work – I think that the Union would be secure between about 85 and 90 per cent”.

The comments faced criticism on social media, given that Disability Living Allowance was replaced by Personal Independence Payment (PIP) – introduced in 2016. Medical card holders in the Republic pay a prescription charge of €1.50 for each item – up to a maximum of €15 per month, for each person or family. Those without a medical card have charges capped at €80 per month if they are signed up to the Drugs Payment Scheme.

The former colonel also said “the greatest migration of people since the Second World War is happening now. The faces of our whole societies are changing, and we see that in Germany, France, Italy, Great Britain – and it will come to Northern Ireland. The Republic of Ireland is completely overwhelmed by the mass tide of immigration. We need to start addressing these problems, because these are collective problems”.

He was scathing about his potential rivals, saying “they are concerned with potholes, parking and dog excrement on the pavement”.

Former DUP MLA Alex Easton, who will run as an independent candidate in the upcoming election, hit back at the comments.

He told the News Letter: “I find some of the comments by Mr Collins are baffling and he seems to be unaware of what is important to residents across North Down and appears rather out of touch.

“Firstly Mr Collins does not seem to be aware that pot holes are dealt with by the department for infrastructure and not council.

“I am also baffled about the comments about potholes, parking and dog excrement, yes these are all small issues in the scheme of things but they are also important to lots of people and should not be belittled in anyway.

“If you can’t be bothered to deal or seem to want to address the small issues how can you be trusted to deal with the large issues, every issue is important regardless of how small they seem and are important to people”.