Owen Polley: How the Conservatives in Northern Ireland are building from the grassroots

Owen Polley is manager of the Northern Ireland Conservatives' campaign HQ.

It was great to read a blog post by Harry Phibbs about the local government campaign in Northern Ireland.  Prompted by his article, I’d like to update you on what’s happening among Conservatives here.

As Harry notes, the Conservative party recently opened a campaign HQ in Bangor, Co Down and I‘m the new, full-time manager for that office.  My challenge is to generate interest in the party and help nourish mainstream UK politics in Northern Ireland.  It’s a task which we believe is best achieved from the grassroots up.

With this in mind the Conservative party is running eight council candidates, from across Northern Ireland, in the local elections .  In North Down, where Conservatism has a strong base, we’re contesting all four electoral areas.

Conservative candidates will also battle for seats in the Ards, Castlereagh, Belfast City and Lisburn City councils.  They’re an enthusiastic and knowledgeable team, with a good grasp of the issues on the ground and, most importantly, they share the conviction that local Conservatives are best placed to provide local solutions to local problems. 

Owen Polley: The Conservative Party should be standing candidates for the Northern Ireland Assembly

Owen Polley lives in Belfast, where he campaigned for the Conservatives and Unionists at the general election. He blogs at Three Thousand Versts of Loneliness.

Contrary to local activists’ expectations, the Conservative Party has chosen not to contest this year’s Assembly election in Northern Ireland. 

The decision was announced in early September, following a meeting between Ulster Unionist leader Tom Elliott and Tory Chairman, Andrew Feldman.  It was swiftly followed by the resignation of NI Conservative chairman, Irwin Armstrong, who believes he had secured agreement for a fully funded Assembly campaign.

Many Northern Ireland members feel let down and argue that the party has performed a U-turn.  Certainly there was every sign, before December 8th last year, that preparations were in place to field Assembly candidates.

During his recent Leonard Steinberg Lecture, Secretary of State Owen Paterson claimed that his party intends to remain involved in electoral politics in the Province for the long term.  He also hinted that, next time, the Tories were prepared to drop the UUP and go it alone.  Local Conservatives were confident that a CCHQ-endorsed Stormont campaign would be launched within weeks.

And it seemed a timely moment for the party to dip a toe into the murky waters of Northern Ireland regional politics.  For the first time an Assembly election is likely to be dominated by issues around the economy.  Traditional divisions will form a backdrop to the campaign, rather than its central theme. 

In Ulster, as in Scotland and Wales, the effects of cuts are an overarching concern, bestowing on devolved politics a risky dimension which Westminster parties cannot afford to ignore.