‘Nesbitt needs to make his mind up about UUP direction’ – Ritchie
SDLP South Down MP Margaret Ritchie has called on UUP leader Mike Nesbitt to create certainty about the future direction of the UUP.
Speaking to Newry Times, Ritchie said:
“The John McCallister demotion raises a wider question of where Mike Nesbitt is trying to take his party. He needs to be serious about reconciliation and a pluralist society. He cannot, at the same time, reverse the UUP into a tribal union with the DUP or into a tribal union in the Mid-Ulster by-election.”
“We already know that the DUP is not serious about a shared future – if there is to be an alternative to the DUP/Sinn Féin carve-up, then the voters must be presented with a real choice.”
Ritchie added, “In the SDLP, we have waited for years for a unionism that is unambiguous about a progressive agenda, promoting reconciliation and standing up to sectarian politics – that is what we do in South Down. We have seen signs of this, only to see them retreat again.
“Mike Nesbitt should be working to advance our society towards normal politics. He needs to abandon any joint project with the DUP. The SDLP is ready to work constructively with Mike Nesbitt to promote normal politics and end the carve-up.”
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Mike Nesbitt is slowly re-building a badly shattered party, mostly because of delivering the so called “Peace” agenda. Mike has been in business a mere six months. Hardly time enough to make a huge impression. Margaret Ritchie is well known for her self-opinionated pronouncements. Perhaps she should be less critical.