It's all about a little thing called democracy...

Earlier on this month it looked an odd-on certainty that the constituency of Glenrothes would fall to the SNP; following the logic of the gospel singer and part-time MP, David Simpson, the Tories, Liberal Democrats and Labour should have come together and put forward an agreed candidate in order to “save the seat for the Unionist family”.

The SNP (and Plaid Cymru) hold exactly the same ultimate target as Sinn Fein and the SDLP, ie the destruction of our nation and if anything at this time pose a much more immediate danger to the Union- so why wasn’t there pressure put on the pro-Union parties in Scotland to combine?

“Democracy”.

We live in a democracy and quite rightly the Tories and Liberal Democrats decided that as Uk citizens, the voters of Glenrothes were entitled to exactly the same choice of canditates (and policies) at the ballot box as their fellow Uk citizens in Surbiton or Sutton Coldfield. And as it happened, the seat was indeed “saved for Unionism”, if you want to use the apocalyptical language of the Dupes.

I’m a democratic unionist (as opposed to a Democratic Unionist) and as such I’m delighted that the Conservatives have pledged to give every citizen in every constituency in the United Kingdom, from Aberdeen to Armagh, from Aberdare to Ashford exactly the same right to vote for their party at the next election. By doing so, there is, of course, the possibility that certain seats will be “lost to Unionism”*, but that’s not the point, really is it?

If you believe in Labour’s policies you vote Labour, if you believe in the Tories’ polices you vote Conservative; technically both parties are Unionist, but they have competing visions of the future UK which prevent any chance of convenient coalition. The DUP are also technically a Unionist party, but apart from that one policy, I find their brand of fundamentalist communal politics abhorrent- why should I be *forced* to vote for them simply in order to prevent their mirror image on the “other side” winning?

I want choice at the ballot box; I want to vote for a party, who whilst believing in the Union and in freedom of conscience and choice, still follows a secular, modernist, non-communal approach to the world. The news on Thursday is the first step on the roads to ensuring that every voter in Northern Ireland has the same choice and the DUP has no right to deny that basic democratic right; the Union should mean a hell of a lot more than South Belfast and Fermanagh/South Tyrone