Clarke speaks at Alliance Party Conference | Latest Newry News, Newry Sport and Newry Business for Newry City

Clarke speaks at Alliance Party Conference

Alliance Councillor for Newcastle, Patrick Clarke, who attended the 42nd annual Alliance Party Conference at the La Mon Hotel on Saturday 21st April, spoke during a panel discussion between newly elected Councillors about how Alliance is now leading the way in terms of people voting for Alliance and also delivering a shared future.

Councillor Patrick Clarke stated: “At the last Council election in May 2011 there was a fifty per cent increase in the number of Councillors, including representation in four Councils where Alliance had no representation after the last full Council elections – Ballymena, Coleraine, Craigavon and Down. The Alliance conference that was recently held at the La Mon hotel was a good indicator of the where the Party is at, with a higher attendance, an ambitious agenda, more coverage by the media and a confident membership base.”

Clarke continued, “Alliance has achieved a number of great victories in the past two with the election of David Ford as Justice Minister, Naomi Long election to Westminster, Stephen Farry becoming our second executive Minister, an extra MLA being elected and our number of Councillors increasing by 50%. But David Ford, in his leader’s speech called on the party not to rest on our laurels but to ensure that we continue this success. And from what I saw at our conference I have no doubt that our Party will continue to grow and have further success. Alliance is leading the debates on issues such as a shared future, dealing with the past, increasing openness and transparency on funding for political parties and protecting the environment.”

“Alliance is offering a distinct voice to the other parties as we are the only Party who is genuinely interested in delivering a shared future. Others may talk about it or make the odd gesture but they are delivering little more than that,” he added.

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Posted by on Apr 27 2012. Filed under Politics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry

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