Unionist Unity Important - Diane Dodds

We now know who the candidates will be for all the major parties. Following the announcements of candidates there has been a pause, an uneasy calm, as the party machines seem to stop for breath before the struggle ahead.

There are, however, a few rumblings in the ‘Phoney War’. I went along on Monday as Diane Dodds made her first major speech, since selection, to the South Belfast DUP Association’s AGM.
Diane has been involved in politics since joining the Democratic Unionist Association at Queens when she was a student; this was where she met her husband. Her many years experience of grassroots politics at the face to face level, as well as her time as an MLA in West Belfast have stood her in good stead. When speaking she comes across very naturally, quickly connecting with the audience.

She spoke of the coming election in terms of the overall result for Unionism, and of the importance of maximising the Unionist vote; both by working hard to increase the turn-out and in terms of ensuring unionist voters use their transfer.

Both are essential in my view, otherwise we risk a ruinous result for the unionist community as a whole. Whatever our personal differences, who can argue that the loss of Jim Nicholson’s seat to the SDLP would not be a body-blow? Whatever our personal differences, who can argue that Bairbre de Brun topping the poll would not be an injection of life into Sinn Fein, just at a time when they were looking vulnerable?