Sinn Fein is accused of ‘fake news’ over Irish citizen claim
Steve Aiken as leader means that we are heading for extinction and it’s time to get off the submarine.”
Another posted: “Whilst I like who you’ll be supporting, I think your party would attract more voters if you were the frontman.”
A further poster added: “Wrong choice. He’s clever enough, but this country requires a leader of heroic stature — Doug Beattie MC MLA.”
Another unionist said he didn’t think Mr Aiken could breathe fresh life into the UUP. “Another empty suit with no charisma is definitely the answer to 20 years of decline. Vast majority of electorate couldn’t pick Aiken out of a line up,” they wrote. Another person posted: “Steve Aiken is like the Northern Irish version of a woke remoaner.
“I’d vote for you Doug. However, I can’t see me voting for Steve, just like I couldn’t vote for Mike Nesbitt. It’s my opinion that Mike Nesbitt set the UUP back decades.”
The leader to succeed Robin Swann will be selected at a special party meeting next month. So far, Mr Aiken is the only candidate declared.
One unionist wrote: “The UUP is finished if Steve Aiken gets leader. Mike Nesbitt and now Steve Aiken and the present boy (Robin Swann) didn’t do much good.” Mr Beattie strongly defended Mr Aiken, who is a close friend. “I‘d just ask for you to give Steve a little time. Everyone deserves a fair shout,” he said.
A DUP supporter posted: “I‘ve been a DUP voter for 16 years since I turned 18. I now have serious doubts in the interests of the DUP. I feel they are in it for themselves and not the unionist people.
“I hope you reconsider this decision as I feel you are the most progressive unionist candidate who has separated yourself from the traditional Union flag-waving politicians of the past, but still have the British ethos in your heart. Listening to you is refreshing and you come across with decency and honesty, something that is rare these days.” SINN Fein has been accused of “fake news” and misleading the public over a tweet which claimed the UK Government was removing the rights of Northern Ireland people to be Irish citizens.
The tweet was in response to a tribunal finding people born in Northern Ireland were British.
It found the 1998 Good Friday Agreement — which states people can identify as British, Irish or both — did not supersede the British Nationality Act of 1981, meaning the law did not recognise identity, but rather citizenship.
Jonathan Powell — who was Prime Minister Tony Blair’s chief of staff during the talks which led to the Agreement — said the matter “needed sorting out”.
“I suspect that this is just sloppiness that someone never thought about the legislative implications of it,” he told the BBC.
On Tuesday morning, Sinn Fein posted a tweet claiming the Government was “removing your right to Irish citizenship”.
“Don’t let them get away with it,” the party said, urging people to tweet their objection.
The tweet was accompanied by a video which stated the Government had ruled “everyone in the north is British”.
The 35-second video has been viewed over 100,000 times with thousands of retweets and likes.
However, many of those responding described the claims as false. They pointed out the Government was not ruling people were British, but rather an immigration tribunal ruled on a point of existing UK law which predated the Agreement. Others pointed out the right to be Irish was a concern for the administration in Dublin and could not be taken away by a UK Government.
“Bréagnuacht/fake news,” was one response.
“This is just a lie,” tweeted Alliance leader and MEP Naomi Long.
In 2017, NI woman Emma De Souza won a case against the Home Office after it deemed she was British when her US-born husband Jake applied for a residence card. But on Monday an immigration tribunal upheld an appeal of the case.