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My mandate is my bond

Last week the issue of misogyny within the political sphere was unfortunately brought to the fore again.

Much has been made of the rather crass and wholly inappropriate comments made in Stormont.

A few moments before he said others can “scream and whinge and whine like a girl from the side lines”, Doug Beattie said the following: “I just do not see what we gain from hurling insults across the assembly.”

I would suggest Doug listen to his own advice, and politics in Northern Ireland may not be such a hostile environment for women.

Of course in his tirade against fellow unionists, he also chose to lambast my party for our stance in vehemently opposing the Northern Ireland Protocol, and for protecting the cross community consent principle which is the foundation stone for the Stormont institutions.

Doug proudly stated “I am sick to death of hearing the word ‘mandate’.”

I would remind him that a mandate is something to take seriously and honour. It should not be something to rubbish. As an elected representative, my mandate is my bond with the people.

We have a mandate and we will not shirk from it. The vast majority of unionists endorsed our stance in the Assembly elections earlier this year. The message – the mandate – was clear. The protocol or Stormont – you cannot have both.

Whilst Doug may detest the majority view of unionism, he ought to respect it. His party often remind us that they are the party that gave us the Belfast Agreement. Yet, as leader of the party, Doug seems intent on pursuing the same agenda as Sinn Fein, SDLP and the Alliance in locking the doors of Stormont to the majority of unionists and removing the principle of cross community consent.

Maybe in his next performance in the assembly, if and when it happens, he might explain to those same unionists why he knows better, and why he believes the ‘process’ should continue without the majority of unionists. Or maybe I’m just whining.

Carla Lockhart,

DUP MP Upper Bann

Survey on UK support can be built upon by unionists

Given the weighty import of the Irish Times- Royal Irish Academy /University of Notre Dame, Arins survey confirming and validating better-than-anticipated support for the Union:

Where are the unionists trumpeting the findings and signposting its significance?

It is not a watershed factor, but it is enough for unionists to build on.

Apart from Ben Lowry (‘Big poll support for UK should bolster London in its unionism,’ Saturday December 10) adroitly citing the importance of the survey, none seem bothered!

Unionists in failing to cite the survey will let the government off the hook.

Mindful that according to a report in the Sunday Times, predicting that negotiations between London and Brussels are edging closer to a deal on the Northern Ireland Protocol, the survey must be utilised to exert pressure on the government.

A deal of the nature forecast by commentators, namely a minor tweaking exercise of the Irish Sea border, is unacceptable to unionists.

Ben Lowry’s assessment in suggesting that the Arins survey ‘should bolster London in its unionism’ remains to be proven.

It certainly should be put to the test in gauging how unionist this Tory government is.

The time is appropriate to challenge the credibility of Rishi Sunak’s unionist credentials.

Time to press home this survey which has identified hefty support for staying in the UK – stressing that its findings were taken during a period of sustained and continuing protest against the protocol.

The survey encourages unionists to come up with policies and strategic thinking which will win over all those desiring to remain in the UK.

At the end of a harrowing year all round, the survey brings special good cheer.

David McNarry,

Former Ukip and UUP MLA, Comber

Catholics put off PSNI by terrorism

The Police Federation has said that Sinn Fein's "qualified support" for the PSNI is hampering efforts to recruit more candidates from a nationalist background (‘SF could do more to support police,’ December 12).

Probably true but is that the sole or even the main deterrent?

Some folk might think that perfectly justifiable fear of being the victim of a targeted IRA murder like those of the two Catholic officers, Stephen Carroll and Ronan Kerr, and the attempt to kill Peadar Heffron, was and still is much more effective in preventing others from the nationalist community from joining than a bit tutting of finger wagging by Sinn Fein.

Davy Wight,

Carrick