The Conservative leadership made a firm commitment to Northern Ireland at a dinner in Bangor and have pledged that they are here to stay.
Lord Feldman joint Chairman of the party said
‘The truth is that we all want to see a politics which is more relevant and responsive to the needs of people in Northern Ireland, and we all want to see a politics which is more credible, more constructive, and more long-term.
So today, let us make this pledge to Northern Ireland: our party will offer that new politics. We will be the Party which draws support from all parts of the community here.
And in the long-run, by working together, we can make sure that more and more people in Northern Ireland go into the polling booth and vote Conservative.
Let me say in the clearest possible terms: The Conservatives are here to stay in Northern Ireland.’
Irwin Armstrong the Conservative Chairman in Northern Ireland said,
‘The commitment to Northern Ireland from the Leadership, Lord Feldman and Owen Paterson the Secretary of State is very important to our long term plans through to the next Westminster elections and beyond.
We now have available access to Central office management skills, the extensive central recruitment and campaigning resources, a local office and shortly a full time staff member. These new resources will to help build our membership base and expand our Associations throughout Northern Ireland, so that we are in a position to select strong Conservative candidates for all future elections.
For the first time in almost a generation we have the tools to do the job and we will not be afraid to use those tools locally to bring national politics to Northern Ireland at every available opportunity.’