Al Green famously once sang ‘Let’s stay together’.
President Obama delighted a crowd in Harlem back in January 2012 when he sang a few lines from the song, while his political aides watched on open-mouthed.
This week the First Minister Peter Robinson and Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness must have been channeling the very essence of that song when they decided to stay together in Belfast to work through the impasse over Welfare Reform rather than attend the traditional St Patrick’s Day celebrations in Washington DC.
Other politicians including Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) Leader Mike Nesbitt and Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) leader Alasdair McDonnell boarded the plane to America and temporarily waved goodbye to the difficulties in Northern Ireland. With the Stormont House Agreement in the balance Peter Robinson and Martin McGuinness seem focused on making sure that the Agreement isn’t consigned to the political dustbin.
Carrying on with the theme of ‘working it out’, after six months of negotiations the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) and the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) have agreed to field one unionist unity candidate in each of four General Election constituencies in an election pact that has been criticised by the Alliance Party and the SDLP.
East Belfast, North Belfast and the border constituencies of Newry & Armagh and Fermanagh & South Tyrone will be covered by the pact. Observers had thought chances of such a pact were remote given the closeness of the General Election. Perhaps Sinn Féin’s eleventh hour change of heart on Welfare Reform spurred unionists to reach an agreement and ‘stick together’.
East Belfast will be one to watch with the DUP and UUP supporting Gavin Robinson, a former Belfast City Council Lord Mayor. Peter Robinson lost this seat in 2010 to Alliance’s Naomi Long by around 1,500-one of the biggest upsets of that General Election campaign. It is a seat which the DUP are determined to take back.
In North Belfast the DUP and UUP will get behind senior DUP politician, Nigel Dodds who is facing a strong challenge from Sinn Féin’s Gerry Kelly. The UUP and DUP are endorsing UUP Deputy Leader Tom Elliott in Fermanagh & South Tyrone. Last time round Sinn Féin’s Michelle Gildernew won the seat by a mere four votes so this could be a very close race.
Lastly in Newry and Armagh, the UUP and DUP will get behind the UUP’s only Minister in the Northern Ireland Executive, Danny Kennedy. The incumbent is Sinn Féin’s Conor Murphy who has called for the SDLP to enter into a pact that would mirror that brokered by the DUP and UUP. SDLP Leader Alasdair McDonnell has rejected this offer saying his party is opposed to sectarian electoral pacts which were “pitting one community against another”.
Peter Robinson described the electoral pact agreed by unionists as “the most comprehensive electoral agreement between our two parties in the last 29 years”. The Scottish Referendum result has unsettled unionists across the region and this pact will appeal to those who want to see pro-union parties have a significant say in Westminster. Given the high probability of a hung parliament, small parties are likely to have an increased influence. Come the morning of May 8 the DUP could have a significant degree of power especially if this electoral pact helps them win back East Belfast and increase their number of MPs.