4 March 2010 - DUP calls for name change decision before election - Campbell
The postponement of a decision on the controversial Londonderry
name change bid until after a General Election would allow the SDLP to solicit
unionist votes, it has been claimed.
Thus warned DUP Alderman Gregory Campbell following the adjournment of a
Special Meeting of Derry City Council to consider whether or not to proceed
with the name change bid on Friday.
The meeting was put back until after the funeral of Real IRA murder victim
Kieran Doherty, who was shot dead in the city on Wednesday.
Mr Campbell said an Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) proposal to park the decision
on the divisive application to the Queen's Privy Council will play into
the hands of the SDLP which successfully mopped up 1,500 votes from the
unionist constituency in Foyle in 2005. Unionists believe these votes went
to Mr Durkan to help prevent a Sinn Féin victory.
"I think that would actually be a very dangerous route to take,"
said Mr Campbell. "What you could get would be a particular nationalist
party that would be quite content to park it until after the election in
the hope that they might garner a few unionist votes with which to stop
Sinn Féin winning the seat."
He added: "And then once they've got the votes in the bag after the
election they will lift the baton again afterwards.
"So I think that would be a very dangerous possible outcome and should
be avoided. If the Ulster Unionists were prepared to say 'park this until
after the election,' I'm sure the SDLP would say 'that's an excellent idea
because it assists us'."
Explained Mr Campbell: "The last time - we know from the election result
in 2005 that Mark Durkan got 1,500 unionist votes - fifteen hundred people
who didn't want to be represented by a Sinn Féin MP.
"So, they would I'm sure be delighted with that. They would be able
to get some unionist votes and then the SDLP after the election would say
'alright we're going back to the name change.' So I think it would be a
retrograde step."
The East Londonderry MP also tied the name change application to Derry City
Council's UK City of Culture 2013 bid. He said adjudicators may be faced
with the "nonsensical" situation where one finalist was culturally
divided over its name.
"The Council have a number of options and even the list of options
that have been itemised by the Council officials is not exhaustive because
there are one or two other options to be looked at.
"But the response from the wider community was absolutely clear and
I think, for example, in the bid for the City of Culture, I made it clear
on behalf of the unionist bloc that if we were going to make an application
for the City of Culture we would have to be internally, within the city
cognisant of the fact that all of our cultures would have to be accepted.
"So it would make a nonsense to have an application in for a City of
Culture bid and at the same time deny the cultural outlook of about a third
of the city's citizens."
He said the overwhelming opposition to the name change expressed in the
Equality Impact Assessment (EQIA) leads to the inevitable conclusion that
in order to give "respect to the cultural aspirations of a significant
number of the people in the city the name Londonderry should be retained."
The leading DUP man effectively rejected as "unwieldy" the suggestion
that the Privy Council application be amended to give parity to "Derry,"
"Londonderry" and "Doire" or that there be no amendment
to the name "but that the extent of the 'city of Londonderry' be amended,
for example, the area within the walls, while the modern urban city be called
'Derry.'"
"The main and I suppose practical problem with that is the total unwieldy
nature of it. What would it end up being called?" he asked.
"Now in my view the name should be Londonderry and if people wish to
use Derry they can. That's the current postion and I would have thought
that's the position that caused least offense in the EQIA and also in the
past so why should it not be the name that should pertain in future?"
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Londonderry Sentinel - 4 March 2010