Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
IT’S ARL TO PLAY FOR..
Foster: Poll could decide if Executive is restored
DUP leader Arlene Foster said the General Election will go a long way in determining if Northern Ireland faces devolution or direct rule.
Launching the party’s manifesto in Antrim, Mrs Foster added votes will not just decide who is returned to Westminster, but also as a mandate for the talks to restore powersharing at Stormont. The former First Minister added after the election the DUP will enter the negotiations positively but insisted it “will not be a one-way street”. She added any deal to restore devolution will be judged by five core tests. These tests will include that an agreement will increase support for Northern Ireland’s position in the UK, will be fully consistent with remaining a “full and integral part” of the UK, will be fully compatible with British citizenship and result in better government than a return to direct rule. Mrs Foster said, for her, the most important issue in the election “is not devolution but the Union itself ”. She called on all unionists to rise to the challenge from Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams and put a border poll off the agenda for generations. The DUP leader said: “Sinn Fein wants to use this election as a precursor to a border poll. “Gerry Adams has declared that this election will be a barometer on Irish unity. “Let us rise to that challenge and seek to ensure that unionism still returns a majority of unionist MPS to Westminster and puts the notion of a divisive and destabilising border poll off the agenda for generations to come.” Mrs Foster also distanced herself from controversial comments made by party colleague Jim Wells MLA about republican election workers. In a Twitter post that has since been deleted the former Health Minister said Sinn Fein was not welcome in Rathfriland, a “unionist” Co Down town and especially so on a Sunday. Mrs Foster said the message was a personal tweet. She added: “We live in a free and open democracy and everyone should be allowed to canvass wherever they want to canvass.”