Editorial: Local elections always matter, particularly now for unionists in Northern Ireland

​This time next week the11 councils in Northern Ireland will have a new intake of elected councillors. Council elections traditionally excite little interest. They are after all the local authorities that deal with vital matters such as bin collections but matters that are not of the highest importance. Therefore, voters pay much more attention to local and national elections.

At the same time however, local elections are significant for two reasons. First, because communities need good local government. People pay a lot of money in domestic rates, and have good reason to expect that money to be soundly spent on well organised local services.

This is even more the case than it was only a few years ago, given that councillors have expanded powers on planning, which affects the environment of a district area for decades, to come.

The second reason the council elections are important is that even the most local electoral contests are crucial barometers of what the public believes politically. A council election is a far better test of opinion than even the most comprehensive opinion poll.

This matters at any time, but particularly in a time of stasis in Northern Ireland. The most recent Stormont election, held in May last year, was a bad one for unionism, in that unionist MLAs not only failed to win a majority of seats but won the lowest ever share of the vote in a major election.

This calls for serious thinking about how unionism should go forward. Yet nationalism has not increased its share of the vote in 25 years. It is still all to play for. Medium term, a three-way unionist party divide is not feasible. For now however it is a way to maximise the vote. If you support the Union, three main parties have unionism in their name. They need support, including vote transfers, at this time of pressure on the Union.