ULSTER UNIONIST Party leadership candidate Basil McCrea will shun pacts with any other unionist party in an effort to restore the party to electoral strength.
Formally launching his campaign to replace Sir Reg Empey as UUP leader, Mr McCrea outlined five campaign pledges he believes will give him the edge against his only rival, Fermanagh Assembly member Tom Elliott.
Chief among those manifesto promises will be the choice of education as his party’s preferred Stormont portfolio following next May’s Assembly election. He also said the only ministerial job he would be prepared to consider would be that of first minister.
“The Ulster Unionist Party under my guidance will give a commitment to the people of Northern Ireland that we will take education as our first choice. We will campaign at the next election that a vote for the UUP is a vote for education. A vote for the UUP is a vote for the future of your children and our economy.”
His announcement clearly sets out his campaign as distinct from the “traditional” unionism of his opponent. In his first speech since announcing his decision to run last week, Mr McCrea also denounced what he called the “cabal” which he said had been running the UUP. If successful he said he would enforce “robust party discipline” and stand firm against moves towards closer co-operation with the DUP or other unionists.
UUP delegates meet in Belfast on September 22nd to choose the successor to Sir Reg, who is standing down in the wake of last May’s disastrous Westminster campaign in which no UUP candidates won a parliamentary seat.