Don't be Duped again! (2) - Voting for a Conservative and Unionist candidate is better for the Union

True to every prediction offered since her application for the post was made public, Belfast city councillor Diane Dodds has taken the DUP’s candidature for this year’s European election. Unnerved by the prospect of running against sitting pro-Union MEPs, Jims Nicholson and Allister, Peter Robinson’s party were desperate to secure a big name to run in June’s poll. Unable to persuade genuinely significant figures to be sidelined at Strasbourg, the ‘big name’ hoping to be returned by the DUP is only possessed by marriage.

Whoever the DUP chose, its campaign was always destined to turn around twin pivots; fear mongering and an appeal to unionists to close ranks behind its candidate. The two ‘Ourselves Alone’ parties have a symbiotic relationship, bordering on a Faustian Pact. Success from one benefits the other and ultimately the aim is a sectarian carve-up of Northern Ireland’s electorate. Despite the mutually beneficial relationship enjoyed by the Dupes and their Sinn Féin coalition colleagues, despite their cosy coexistence for the rest of the year, come election time fear of one is the main means by which the other seeks to drive up its own vote.

Of course, as O’Neill intimates on Unionist Lite, the health of the Union does not rest on the DUP topping a European election poll. Certainly it is necessary that the overall vote for continued Union is maximised, but voters must consider which type of unionism it is that they want. If it is unionism which genuinely values Northern Ireland’s place within the UK and wishes to contribute fully in national politics, the DUP has little to offer. Ultimately, for the benefit of the United Kingdom as a robust political entity, and to strengthen Northern Ireland’s position within that Kingdom, a vote for Conservative and Unionist candidates will always be more effective than a vote for the DUP.