UNIONISTS put on a united front again at the weekend as they joined forces to campaign for Westminster candidate Tom Elliott. Democratic Unionist MLAs Arlene Foster and Lord Maurice Morrow met with UUP leader Mike Nesbitt and other unionists in Fivemiletown on Saturday as part of the pact between the two parties.

Mr. Elliott has told The Impartial Reporter that he has been “heartened” by the support he says he has been getting from people, including many who wouldn’t traditionally vote for his party.

The previous day the Ulster Unionist Party launched its manifesto in which Mr. Elliott reiterated his view that Fermanagh-south Tyrone “needs representation” at Westminster.

Speaking to party colleagues, Mr. Nesbitt declared there was “a real yearning for hope in this country.” “After all you have been through, after all we have been through, after all Northern Ireland has been through, I refuse to accept this is as good as it gets. I refuse to tell those who paid the highest price for peace that this is as good as it gets.

“I will not tell young people for whom the Troubles was not a lived experience that it cannot get any better than this. With the electorate’s endorsement, I want to see a change in the current political mindset at the heart of Government in Northern Ireland,” he said.

“For the last couple of years, our focus has been almost exclusively on dependency, whether it is our dependency on welfare, or the block grant. It is time to switch to serious wealth generation,” added Mr. Nesbitt.