TONIGHT, here in East Belfast, at the heart of Peter Robinson’s constituency, Unionism stands at a crossroads.  

This is an important moment in our history as we are faced with clear choices that will determine our future as a part of the United Kingdom. Let’s consider these choices.

On the one hand, we are faced with the same snake oil salesmen in the DUP and UUP, with policies that don’t work and can’t work. 

We know these policies don’t work because we can all see the size of the lengthening job queues, the total mess in Education affecting our children, the chaos in Health, the bankruptcies in business – let’s face the truth – Stormont isn’t working.

Well then again, Stormont IS working for at least 108 people, and working really well for them. Remember the scandal of the expenses claims from last summer. These 108 MLA’s – many of them part-time, managed to claim a cool  £7.5 MILLION in just ONE year, even as working men and women struggled to watch the pennies.

Talk about winning the Lottery – these crackpots won the jackpot they minute they got the trust of the people....and they have frittered it all away.

You recall the sort of important things these elected unionists were claiming care of our taxes?

Well, East Belfast’s very own Peter Robinson urgently needed   £375 of OUR money to "remove and replace the leather" on his desk at Stormont.  Maybe that was the desk he used to write thank you letters to kindly donators to his Party? I suppose it would have gotten a lot of use!

Oh, and then he claimed another  £34.50 of OUR cash for water! Claiming for water when it comes for free from a tap!

Not that expenses troughery was confined to Stormont – Westminster had some juicy pickings too.

You might recall Iris Robinson – the now world famous Mrs Robinson - lashing out at the local media for daring to report the FACT that Team Robinson  - as they were then in those days  - claimed around £30,000 for food over a four-year period with £160,000 in mortgage interest relief. Peter did not correct her so we can assume that he shared the DUP view that the media had an “unhealthy obsession” with political expenses.

 Turns out that the unhealthy obsession lay within the DUP – a situation that has resulted in Mrs Robinson being forced out of public office and which has required Mr Robinson to step down as First Minister after all those years of longing for it. How awful for him.

Of course GREED was not the domain of any one Party and let’s  reflect on the claims for such vital items on the political shopping list as bin-bags,  calendars, even weed-killers. Well, there are plenty of weeds up on the Stormont hill.

Those politicians claiming these expenses had NO sense of shame, NO idea about personal probity and would STILL be claiming had the press not revealed the scale of this scandalous abuse of the public purse.

It was all within the rules, they whined. They MADE the rules and showed open contempt for US all– the people whose cash they pocketed.

Ask yourself the simple question;

Do those who had their SNOUTS stuck in the TROUGH for all these years deserve a further period in power?  Do we REWARD them for what they have done or do we TEACH THEM that greed does not go unpunished?

Now as the election approaches – that solemn moment when the people finally get to pass judgement – it’s amazing to see the gymnastics that some politicians engage in if they think it will save their hides.  You know, this is a Winter OLYMPIC  YEAR and we are seeing some real gold medal winning performances with all sorts of somersaults and u-turns being executed.

But make no mistake ---  this is ALL about the survival of the fatcats.

Nowhere is this more obvious that in the desperation of DUP Leader, MP and MLA for East Belfast the Right Honourable Peter Robinson.

We have come to this place tonight, to the heart of his constituency, to RECLAIM East Belfast for all those voters who want their political delegates to do what they PROMISE and HONOUR their pledges.  I have had many messages from people asking me why it so many politicians say one thing before an election and then do something entirely different after. Sadly this is most true of unionism in recent years. The ANSWER is because they think they can get away with it! But now, with TUV, you can stop this.     

Now Mr Robinson may have spouted much rhetoric over the years but like snow off a ditch it soon vanishes, leaving nothing behind.

Is the Peter Robinson now working through the day and night at Hillsborough to cut a sordid deal with IRA/Sinn Fein in any way related to the Peter Robinson who said in his maiden speech in Parliament in 1979

“On behalf of Ulster's dead, I call on the Government to act. On behalf of Ulster's living, I call on them to do it now. I ask them to stand up to terrorism in Northern Ireland and let my people live”

Standing UP to terrorists by lying DOWN with them in government?

It’s been a long road since 1979, Peter, and you are approaching the end of it much sooner than you think.

Of course twenty years after his election, Peter was still showing us how tough he was.

Speaking in the Assembly in 1998 he was able to figure out that...

The agreement, which is to be put to the people of Northern Ireland in a referendum, is an agreement that puts into the very Government of Northern Ireland representatives of the Provisional IRA's army council—Gerry Adams and Martin McGuinness. ...So, we shall have two Sinn Fein-IRA Ministers, in an elevated position and gentrified by the agreement, running around Northern Ireland, exercising control over the very people whom they have oppressed for a generation.

That was 1998, less than ten years later, he happily sat in power with the very same men he labelled IRA godfathers.

Push over Peter has always been quick to expose weakness in others.  He carefully explained back then...

“ Ulster people are not fools. They will know, with murderers being released from prison and elevated to ministerial posts, that the Union is far from secure. Did thousands of our fellow citizens die and tens of thousands become maimed in order to secure cabinet positions for Adams and McGuinness and set up a united Ireland process?”

I would simply add - did these thousands lose their precious lives so that AMBITIOUS UNIONIST POLITICIANS could secure their cabinet positions ALONGSIDE Adams and McGuinness?

However Peter was right in one respect - Ulster people are NOT fools. They proved that in the Dromore by-election, at the European Poll, and they’ll prove it again in a few months time.

Of course back in 2001, in the Assembly, the East Belfast MP was very clear about the curriculum vitaer of Martin McGuinness. Here are his words...

“Mr McGuinness is a member of the Army Council of the IRA, which has sanctioned the murder of thousands of men, women and children in and outside Northern Ireland. Now, while still a member of the IRA's Army Council, Mr McGuinness is the Minister of Education with the responsibility for moulding the minds of thousands of young people.

Last Friday another murder occurred in Belfast a 38-year-old father of four, was shot in front of his partner and 12-year-old daughter. Apparently, up to 10 bullets were pumped into him, and he was left lying dead on the street. Again, the security forces understand that the IRA is responsible. This assassination will have been sanctioned by the IRA's Army Council. The Minister of Education combines his duties in this House with membership of an Army Council that makes decisions to murder human beings.”

The Army Council is still intact, unlike Mr Robinson’s pledges.

That was 2001, seven years later he shared power with McGuinness. Short memories, right?

From 1998 to 2005, Mr Robinson was quick to point out how Trimble was a push-over, a moral disgrace, a wretched failure, for sharing government with Sinn Fein..

And then in 2005, and then again in 2007, many decent unionist voters were persuaded to believe the pledges offered by the DUP leadership that they would not be push-overs like Trimble’s Unionists had been.  People TRUSTED DUP leaders who swore they offered leadership to put things right.

Well, five years on, and we can all see the betrayal that has taken place as the DUP has proven to be even bigger roll-overs than the UUP were. 

Nothing was put right but plenty of wrong was committed.

You all recall the sickening images of Ian and Martin - the Chuckle Brothers  - and now with Peter and Martin, or is it Arlene and Martin  - and the revolt is still felt by people who just cannot understand how the DUP leaders  can work so closely with an IRA godfather. 

The memories of the victims of IRA savagery are betrayed so political dynasty’s can be maintained.  How sordid is that?

The REAL SHAME of the leaders of Unionism over the past decade has been to accept the flawed idea that republicans openly committed to the destruction of Northern Ireland as a functioning part of the United Kingdom will make good partners in government. Of course they will not.

They seek to cause chaos, to make things fail, to stop our country working. They delight in the agitation, they love the gridlock, they need to show that Northern Ireland cannot work for the people.  Good government cannot come from a rotten foundation and it does not get more rotten than IRA/Sinn Fein.

Now, Trimble went with the ridiculous notion that the IRA would make good partners in government and his Party was all but wiped out as a direct result. The DUP are now experiencing the same factor.

DUP duplicity on the one hand. UUP weakness on the other, 

I say ENOUGH with ALL of this.

What we need is ROCK SOLID not ROLL OVER Unionism

TUV offers a fresh start.

We believe in ONE JOB FOR ONE POLITCIAN.

The multiple jobbing which all the other parties in government have engaged in was and remains totally unacceptable.

Why, for example, should East Belfast put up with an MP in the form of Peter Robinson who has been absent for some 2/3rds of all votes taken place in the House of Commons? In what way is this dereliction of duty acceptable?

Even if we set his salary to one side, it still costs you almost £1000 every time the Member for East Belfast deigns to vote. That’s not getting value for money, that’s getting ripped off.

Full time representation for the voters of East Belfast and everywhere else in Northern Ireland is our promise.

We believe that Northern Ireland deserves good government, not failed government, and TUV will work to bring this about at Westminster and at Stormont.

How will we bring this about?

First and foremost by being tough negotiators.  Is there anybody here who thinks Jim Allister would roll over when faced with unacceptable demands?  The more people support us, the stronger our negotiation position will be. We are the guarantee of a better future.

If WE go into talks with government and other fellow democrats, you can be sure that we will get the BEST deal for you. How will you know this?

Because we believe in openness and honesty, no secret talks from us, no side-deals, no keeping the voters in the dark.  Just look at the circus at Hillsborough this past week with the unionist politicians there keeping us well away from what they are negotiating, giving away.

We will ensure that people know what is being discussed when we are involved – that is our pledge to you.

As we have already heard standards in political life have been brought into the gutter and we will be the Party in the Province that will raise them back up. 

Honesty and integrity are the principles of the heart of the Unionism we represent.

We also believe in assertive confident unionism based on DELIVERING for the law abiding people of Northern Ireland.

We want to help bring about a BETTER FUTURE, one where terrorists do not set the agenda and then exercise a veto over it.

We’ll do this, at Westminster and at Stormont, by making sure we hang in there, staying rock solid on our principles, persuading, informing and winning arguments.

The unionist argument for insisting on the same standard of democracy for Northern Ireland as that enjoyed elsewhere in the Kingdom is convincing and TUV guarantees that we will do all in our power to persuade others to this point of view..we will not settle for a bad deal.  I don’t expect Irish Republicans will accept this but then again, we are Unionists and we should setting our agenda, not dancing to theirs.

Now there has been a lot of talk about UNIONIST UNITY in recent days. I believe many voters yearn to see unionism strong and united – working in their best interests.

But THAT, my friends, is not what this form of unity is about.

Oh no. This is about trying to limit damage to DUP electoral fortunes and the Ulster Unionists, under EAST BELFAST’S noble knight Sir Reg seem willing to go along with this ...if it wins them a few seats at Westminster and avoiding the ultimate humiliation of having no representation at the Mother of Parliaments.  After all, the blessed Sylvia is not for turning in North Downs so what to do? Talk about running on Empey.

So Peter is offering Reg the keys to the kingdom of Fermanagh and South Tyrone, along with South Belfast if ONLY he will go along with devolving Policing and Justice.

In order to give IRA/Sinn Fein what they want, the prospect of unionist unity is now dangled in front of anxious voters. How cynical is that? How calculating? And how ironic that it takes a republican demand aimed at furthering Irish unity to get DUP/UUP to feign talk about unionist unity!

I saw TUV was criticised in the media the other day for alerting the electorate to the corrupted form of unity on offer from desperate politicians. I am sure we will get more of this for daring to speak the truth. The real issue, of course is the principles around which unionism unites. Terror inclusive government that doesn’t work is NOT one of them. Or at least is shouldn’t be. We invite the DUP and UUP to join with us and we seek to reform that which does not work.

We believe that government is the servant of the public, not the other way around. TUV is here to get things done. We understand that the purpose of government is to help improve the lot of the citizen, not swell the bank balance of the politician.

A TUV vote is one that can bring real change.

It is an investment in a positive future in which normal standards of democratic government are restored, where the focus is on delivery of the essential needs of the people  - in Education -  in Healthcare  – we want to bring Jobs for the people, not for the boys – we seek to ease the tax burden and  throw out the Quango Queens – we aim to build up a prosperous country that takes care of the needy whilst helping the small businessman, the entrepreneur.   

Just look at the hundreds of job losses announced yesterday here in East Belfast and on the watch of Mr Robinson. People deserve so much better than they are getting care of the part-time MP.  He’s off talking to Gerry and Martin TO SAVE HIS JOB meanwhile working people are losing their livelihoods

There is every reason for unionist voters to feel confident – after all the sun rises afresh each morning and unionism CAN get up off its knees and re-assert the traditional values this Party stand for.

The moment of change is coming...

To finish - let me take you back in time, across the centuries for a minute....

Speaking to the discredited Rump Parliament in 1653, here is what Oliver Cromwell had to say.. listen carefully..

“It is high time to put an end to your sitting in this place, which you have dishonoured by your contempt of all virtue, and defiled by your practice of every vice; you are a factious crew, and enemies to all good government; you  are a pack of mercenary wretches, and would like Esau sell your country for a mess of pottage, and like Judas betray your God for a few pieces of money.

“Is there a single virtue now remaining amongst you? Is there one vice you do not possess? Is there a man amongst you that has the least care for the good of the Nation?

You were deputed here by the people to get grievances redress'd; your country therefore calls upon us  to cleanse the Augean Stable, by putting a final period to your iniquitous proceedings, and which by God's help and the strength He has given us, we now come to do.

You have sat here too long for the good you do.

In the name of God, go!”

That was 1653,

Let me add in 2010...

Those who sit in power with terrorists should GO.

Those who take huge salaries whilst providing us with government that does not work should GO.

Those who stood for election opposing the provisions of the Belfast Agreement and then embraced it the second they got into power should GO.  

Those who have had their noses in the financial trough for years should GO.

Since 1979, Peter Robinson has had the honour of representing the voters of East Belfast. Well, he has failed miserably  and he should too GO.

 We throw down the gauntlet to the DUP leader to stop running and face the people.

TUV has come to East Belfast, it’s coming across Northern Ireland, and we’re offering unionist voters the opportunity to make a fresh start. No more lies, no more retreats, no more weaklings representing unionism, Mr Robinson – it is time things changed for the better. That’s OUR promise – that’s what TUV offers”