Conference,
In some respects the topic I have been asked to speak on this afternoon is odd.
I say that because TUV was not supposed to have a future.
Our political obituary was written after the last Westminster election.
Most commentators thought the 2011 Assembly election was the final nail in the TUV coffin.
They had us consigned to a Sadducee’s grave never to rise again.
But here we are at the end of 2014 having a bigger mandate than ever before.
With more councillors than ever before.
And with the TUV voice in more council chambers than ever before.
An important fact which is often overlooked is that every single one of our councillors who stood for re-election we re-elected. In those areas where a TUV councillor was retiring the TUV candidate who replaced them was also comfortably re-elected. Not only did we break new ground but where we were already established people recognised the commitment of TUV to hard work and delivery.
With our performance in the European election – where we came within touching distance of the Ulster Unionists – TUV demonstrated that we are a force to be reckoned with.
But now that TUV has confounded its critics and proved that we were not just a one hit wonder with the 2009 result what is our vision for the future? Where does TUV want to see Northern Ireland?
We want to see a Northern Ireland based not on the Trojan House of Republican equality but on the true equality envisaged by our forefathers.
A few years ago we marked the centenary of the Ulster Covenant. In that celebrated document the Unionists of 1912 pledged “to stand by one another in defending, for ourselves and our children, our cherished position of equal citizenship in the United Kingdom”.
It may seem strange to quote from a 100 year old document in a speech about looking to the future but if only subsequent generations of Unionist leaders had remained true to the vision of defending equal citizenship within the United Kingdom we wouldn’t be in the mess we are today.
That vision of equality is not musty and outdated. Rather the words calling for equal citizenship within the United Kingdom have greater resonance than ever.
Our vision of the future is that of equal citizenship within the United Kingdom.
To achieve that end we require radical change. As Gerry Adams spelt out in language we could all very well understand, even the word equality has been hijacked.
Nowhere else in the United Kingdom are people denied the right to vote a party out of office or the right to have an opposition. Yet that is done in Northern Ireland in the name of equality.
Conservative MEP Dan Hannan observed recently in the European Parliament because of that “we can’t call Northern Ireland a proper democratic state.” I saw someone who posted a link to a YouTube video of Mr Hannan’s speech on Facebook with the tongue-in-cheek caption “senior Tory MEP seeks to destabilise the peace process”. And the thing is that when anyone in Northern Ireland makes that point that’s exactly the accusation which is thrown at them.
Conference, if democracy would destabilise the peace process then the peace process is nothing more than the appeasement of terror by way of a guarantee of perpetual governmental office and I want nothing to do with it!
Christians cannot run their own private businesses in accordance with their beliefs because of so-called equality.
We cannot fly the flag of our country because of “equality”. Isn’t it telling that while in Northern Ireland it is quite acceptable for the chattering classes to mock those who fly their flag and make sneering comments about “flegs” when a member of the shadow cabinet appeared to do just that to a working class family in England she was forced to resign?
So much for equal citizenship within the UK.
And what of victims? There too the term equality has been hijacked.
Sinn Fein tells us that we cannot have a “hierarchy of victims”. They must all be equal. What does that mean? It means you cannot treat the terrorist who went out with murder in his heart and injured himself by blowing himself up any differently from the family caught in a bomb while going about their lawful business.
Shame on the DUP for accepting office in OFMdFM – a Ministry which operates that perverse definition.
Conference, I am proud that this party – by way of Ann’s Law – has done something to establish the principle that victims matter.
But when we are on the subject of victims – isn’t it just a little ironic that Gerry Adams decided to deliver his foul mouthed lecture on equality in, of all places, Enniskillen?
There wasn’t much thought given to equality on 8th November 1987.
This party has proved that we can get the democratic deficit in Northern Ireland on the political agenda. It used to be only TUV who talked about an opposition. Now even co-First Minister Robinson has embraced the TUV analysis that Stormont is dysfunctional and unfit for purpose.
This party proved that we can expose and put a stop to the erosion of Britishness when Jim revealed plans to strip prisons of the prefix Her Majesty’s and prison uniforms of the Crown and forced David Ford to find reverse gear.
This party proved that you don’t need to cosy up to Sinn Fein to get anything done in the Assembly and has proved that we can and will deliver for victims by way of Ann’s Law.
This party has forced others to realise that you don’t always have to roll over to Sinn Fein/IRA when we alongside innocent victims and the wider Unionist community forced a U-turn on the Maze Shrine.
This party has shown that we are serious about people in Northern Ireland having equal citizenship within the United Kingdom by our refusal to bow the knee to the Belfast Agreement and consistently arguing for democratic norms to apply in Northern Ireland.
And this party has proved that we are gaining the trust of more people than ever before.
If we remain true to those ideals we can, we must maintain that trust.
Thank you.