VETERAN RETURNS – Former Alliance (and independent) councillor and former Green Party leader Brian Wilson is stepping back into politics and standing as an independent candidate in North Down in a move that will disappoint both the Green Party and Alliance.
There’s an interestingly signed letter in the Guardian today • Nick Clegg has repeated the Yes campaign’s claim that only the Conservatives and BNP oppose AV. Here in Northern Ireland, the Democratic Unionist party, the Greens, and Ulster Unionist party all back a No vote. AV would be a tremendous step backward for Westminster. It’s not a fair election system and would rig the electoral system against smaller parties. AV is an obscure, expensive and unwanted system. Tom Elliott Leader, …
A couple of weeks ago, the (Bangor) Spectator ran a story about UUP councillor Roberta Dunlop’s resignation from the party after not being reselected to stand for her Abbey Ward seat. Her husband and fellow North Down councillor Harry Dunlop had defected from the UUP to the DUP in January, But the other half of the short article is much more intriguing. Brian Wilson, the Green Party’s only MLA, is standing down from the Assembly in May, and new NI …
One of the biggest surprises of the European election in 2009 was just how well the Green’s Stephen Agnew and the then Alliance Ian Parsley did. Both polled so far beyond expectations they were in the running for the Slugger Awards ‘up and coming politician’ gong (is it a ‘gong’?). A lot of water has passed under Parsley’s bridge since then – a jump to the Conservatives and subsequent failed run for Westminster beneath the UCUNF banner. With The UCUNF …
