BELFAST VISIT:BRITISH CONSERVATIVE party leader David Cameron on a visit to Belfast yesterday insisted that in the event of a Tory government Northern Ireland would not be singled out for financial cuts.
He also repeated that he would “never be neutral on the union” while pledging to honour British and Irish agreements that helped seal the peace process.
Mr Cameron spoke at the La Mon Hotel in east Belfast yesterday, standing in front of the 17 candidates for the Tory-Ulster Unionist alliance, or UCUNF – Ulster Conservatives and Unionists-New Force.
He said that if elected prime minister he would be back in Northern Ireland within a week.
He refused to be drawn on whom he might coalesce with or seek support from in the event of a hung parliament, stating that he was campaigning to win an overall majority.
Mr Cameron was in the North to boost the case for the Tory-unionist alliance and particularly for Ulster Unionist leader Sir Reg Empey who is trying to unseat the Rev William McCrea of the DUP in South Antrim.
He indicated that if Sir Reg were elected to Westminster there would be a place for him in a Tory government.
In a hung parliament Mr Cameron could need the support of DUP MPs to form a government. Nonetheless he departed from his script yesterday to attack the DUP and Peter and Iris Robinson.
“There is a great family of candidates standing behind me but there will be nothing swish about the Conservative and unionist family in Northern Ireland,” he said.
This was a reference to a previous tabloid headline, “Swish Family Robinson”, about the expenses that the Robinsons derived from politics.
Adhering to the script he said the electorate in the North would have the power to sack their MPs. He would also ban “the double-jobbing that has scarred politics in this part of the United Kingdom”.
“The scandals at Westminster and the recent allegations here in Northern Ireland have rocked confidence in politics and politicians. This is no time for business as usual,” he said.
Mr Cameron, who was on a whistle-stop tour of various parts of the UK, almost never made it to Northern Ireland because of the volcanic ash. After his arrival at the hotel he declared, “The helicopter broke down, I had to find an aeroplane, I had to find an airport, I had to fly through a volcanic ash cloud but I wasn’t going to miss it for the world.”
The Tory leader also sought to re-establish himself with the Northern Ireland electorate after previously suggesting that he would target the North for public sector cuts.
“We will continue to fund Northern Ireland according to its needs, and we will tackle the deficit while protecting the essential frontline public services that we all rely on,” he said.
“There is no way Northern Ireland will be singled out over and above any other part of the UK – that, people need to know,” added Mr Cameron.
He said the Tories were deeply committed to the union and he would “never be neutral on the union”.