David Trimble, Speech at the Launch of the UUP's Manifesto for the Westminster Election on 5 May 2005 (20 April 2005)

Speech by David Trimble, then leader of the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP), at the Launch of the UUP's Manifesto for the Westminster Election on 5 May 2005, (20 April 2005)

"Ulster Unionists are the party that believes in and practices British politics in this part of the United Kingdom. Others engage in the politics of extremism – the politics of fear and division. Ulster Unionists are different. We are committed to building up Northern Ireland, at home in our rightful place in the United Kingdom.

Our Manifesto sets out policies to deliver the best for Northern Ireland. And we can deliver. Unlike every other party in this election, we take Westminster seriously. We take the job of representing the people of Northern Ireland in our nation’s Parliament seriously.

We have, unlike others, a genuine record of achievement. In the last Parliament Ulster Unionist MPs delivered for Northern Ireland – the creation of the IMC, stronger laws against crime and anti-social behaviour, protected local pharmacies, additional funding for improved school dinners, extended the protection scheme for employee’s pensions to Northern Ireland.

Ulster Unionists are committed to building on this record of achievement. Our Manifesto sets out an agenda that our MPs will work for in the next Parliament – specific policies to build a better future for the people of Northern Ireland.

Ulster Unionists will work for schools in which no child is left behind – moving beyond the failed agenda of education cuts and Burns/Costello.

Ulster Unionists will work for a health service which puts patients first – leaving behind the red-tape and bureaucracy that gets in the way of our doctors and nurses.

Ulster Unionists will work for jobs and economic growth – offering real opportunity for our businesses to compete, succeed and grow.

Ulster Unionists will work for fair local taxes – local taxes which don’t penalise home ownership and which protect the vulnerable.

Ulster Unionists will work for pensions that give dignity to the elderly – and end the means-testing which penalises those who have worked and saved throughout their lives.

Ulster Unionists will work for laws to provide security for you and your family – and protect our communities from paramilitarism, crime and thuggery.

This is the Ulster Unionist agenda for Northern Ireland in the next Parliament. Our record is there for all to see. Our opponents cannot be trusted to represent the people of Northern Ireland in Westminster.

Sinn Fein’s violence, extremism and abstentionism render them completely incapable of representing the people of this part of the United Kingdom. The SDLP is a marginal force in the House of Commons. Alliance freely accepts that it is impossible for them to win any Westminster seats. The DUP is so caught up with grandstanding and attacking other unionists that they have no interest in the hard work of representing Northern Ireland.

Only Ulster Unionists will work for Northern Ireland at Westminster – a Northern Ireland in which we can all take pride, a Northern Ireland that stands in the mainstream of British politics, a Northern Ireland at ease with its rightful place in the United Kingdom."