‘We need social issues sorted as we have virtually

PORTADOWN — in the heart of the Upper Bann constituency — seemed confused yesterday, with a heady mixture of Brexit prospects, talk of a border poll and the perennial spectre of a split unionist vote.

Voting seemed busier than ever — 20% by early afternoon when the heavens opened — in a constituency that has never returned a non-unionist since it came into being in 1983.

On first interviews, outgoing MP David Simpson (DUP) seemed to have got his campaigning right. He had concentrated on the split vote issue, in his ‘Orange’ battle with UUP MLA and ex-soldier Doug Beattie, warning that it could open the door for Sinn Fein’s John O’Dowd.

As the plot thickened on the streets, one local remarked: “This election is a total waste of time, with nothing in it for this province, only an open border skirmish”.

There wasn’t much reference to Theresa May or Jeremy Corbyn in a town — much like the rest of Northern Ireland — suffering from election fatigue.

Ronnie and Elsie Gracey felt it was a pity that Simpson and Beattie had to scrap it out, in the absence of a unionist deal. “They’re both good candidates,” said Ronnie as they left the polling station at Edenderry School, in a unionist area.

He added: “Upper Bann, going by the last Assembly election, is moving ever-closer to the split-vote category, and the people want somebody who actually takes the seat at Westminster. This is really a three-way fight — Simpson, Beattie and O’Dowd.”

Sales assistant Linzi Ewart was voting for the first time, even though she’s 26.

She said: “It’s getting too close for comfort and I regret I didn’t vote before. I voted for David Simpson this time, and I think he — as the sitting MP — is the only unionist who can win and protect the Union.”

In the nationalist Ballyoran area, Mary and Gerald Lavery — both opposed to Brexit — felt the election was “a total waste of time”. “It isn’t relevant to the problems of Northern Ireland,” said Gerald. “There’s far too confused a picture here — what with Assembly elections, talk of a