NI Conservatives’ co-chair, Trevor Ringland, has described shadow secretary of state Ivan Lewis’s claim that Labour is a party of ‘one nation politics’ as “deeply ironic”.
“Really, the Labour Party’s attempt to claim ‘one nation’ credentials in Northern Ireland is beyond parody”, Trevor noted. “It’s disappointing that Ivan Lewis has taken over where his predecessor left off, throwing brick-bats at the Conservatives, while remaining completely invisible on this side of the Irish Sea”.
“It’s worth remembering that the government, under David Cameron and his Secretaries of State, brought the G8 to Northern Ireland, delivered a wide ranging package to help the economy and continues to be on the side of hard-working people here. This is a Prime Minister who champions Northern Ireland to potential investors and who last week engaged with Richard Haass, in an attempt to create a shared, interdependent future for the whole community. In contrast, Labour ruined the economy, let down savers at the Presbyterian Mutual Society and have abandoned people here by refusing to stand candidates.”
“Twice, over the past number of weeks, David Cameron has spoken about his commitment to bring normal politics to Northern Ireland, by offering the chance to vote for NI Conservatives. The Secretary of State has been vocal in describing NI Conservative colleagues as driving a case for economic change in Northern Ireland. There is only one party in the UK which really has a ‘one nation’ outlook, there’s only one party which is prepared to engage in electoral politics right across our Kingdom and it is certainly not the Labour Party. The Conservatives are the UK wide party which is on the ground, campaigning and debating the issues which matter in Northern Ireland.”