ecently I was discussing politics with a friend of mine. She’s a fiercely intelligent and socially liberal young woman. She told me that she voted Sinn Fein as her first preference and Alliance as her second. I casually remarked that this seemed like a fairly unusual combination, I wasn’t sure I’d ever heard of anyone else voting this way (though of course I’m sure they exist). She explained that these two parties appealed most to her personal political views (big lefty) and that she wasn’t that fussed on the constitutional question. It then led on to a discussion, that in Northern Ireland can often cause division amongst even close friends. You see I agree with my friend on almost every political issue, especially the social ones. I too consider the constitutional question a bit pointless at the moment. Yet I can’t imagine voting for Sinn Fein. ‘If voting for a Nationalist or Republican party or even for a united Ireland left me with higher standard of living, then I’d be all for it’ It’s not because I’m an economic unionist. Even Sinn Fein are de facto unionists, the fact they sit in the Assembly at Stormont shows they have accepted the existence of Northern Ireland for the foreseeable future. You see I’m a proper mixture. One Catholic parent, one Protestant parent, went to mass until I was 17 or 18 but at the same time attended a protestant school. Now I don’t have any religious affiliation and really couldn’t give a toss what yours is and I’m a unionist through my own practical reasoning rather than any romantic ideal. If voting for a Nationalist or Republican party or even for a united Ireland left me with higher standard of living, then I’d be all for it. Yet there’s a perception that Sinn Fein aren’t designed to represent me, there’s this perception, true or not, that Sinn Fein wouldn’t want me to vote for them. I was explaining this to my friend, that regardless of policy, it didn’t feel like I’d ever be able to affiliate with Sinn Fein, when I explained that this was also exactly how I felt about the DUP. I’m sure there are plenty of good people in the party, but there’s still that perception that because I was brought up Catholic, they wouldn’t want me to vote for them in the same way Sinn Fein wouldn’t want me because I’m half protestant. Even if the DUP were to publish a manifesto that completely aligned with my political views I’d still feel like they weren’t a party that would want to represent me. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying that EVERY member of DUP and Sinn Fein is a bigot and every political party would love one more vote, but they never pitch to the middle ground. Their rhetoric is always about looking after their own side and I’m not on either of their sides. If you live in Northern Ireland and you don’t have very strong ties to one community or the other, or if, like me, you have ties to both, who do you vote for? As I explained to my friend, my options went from five major parties to three. If I want to vote for a major party that I don’t think at least kind of hates me for who I am, I have to vote SDLP, UUP or Alliance. Even now that seems to have been whittled down to two. ‘It’s the most blatant attempt to pander to one section of one community. It’s disappointing, mainly because the UUP were faced with the opportunity to offer a more moderate way’ For a while now, the UUP has been tacking to the hard line of Unionism. There seems to be a deliberate attempt to appeal to the more diehard elements. The rationale behind this, is this constantly pervading idea that “even middle class unionists were pissed off at the flag coming down”. The positioning of the party and its rhetoric are becoming less and less attractive to anyone who can consider themselves a moderate. Their recent publication in which they put forward the idea of flying the Union Jack on all government buildings on designated days except Belfast City Hall, where it should be flown 365 days a year just seemed stupid. It’s the most blatant attempt to pander to one section of one community. It’s disappointing, mainly because the UUP were faced with the opportunity to offer a more moderate way, to define themselves as a party that would represent their community, but who would not be a cold house for those of us who like the idea of enjoying both the British and Irish elements of Northern Irish culture. Yet when faced with this chance, the party decided to instead take the predictable and easy way out. They decided to ramp up the rhetoric and become a smaller version of the DUP. The question is, is there any group of Unionist voters out there who will switch from the DUP/TUV/PUP to the UUP due to this shift? Or is it more likely that there will be more Unionist voters like myself who start to feel like they’re not welcome? It was recently revealed that even people who vote for nationalist parties are overwhelmingly in favour of maintaining the union for the foreseeable future. With that in mind, have the UUP gambled the completely wrong way? Instead of trying to mimic the appeal of every other Unionist party, why has there been no attempt to reach out to appeal to people who have typically voted for Nationalist parties? It would appear that there is a default response to change for Northern Irish political parties. When something big happens, just change your stance to appeal solely to your own community and especially the most hardline elements of that community. Whereas for those of us who are right in the middle of the road we are faced with an ever dwindling number of parties and politicians who seem to genuinely want to appeal to us.
Posted on: Wed, 26 Mar 2014 12:54:24 +0000
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