Stormont Election 2016

Questions for candidates in North Antrim.

Since returning to Northern Ireland in 1997 I‘ve be living at the end of a very long lane. In these past 19 years no politician has ever wandered down my long winding lane to solicit a vote from me. I do not take this personal as they could probably canvas about 20 individuals on their door steps in the time it would take to visit me.  I nevertheless do feel a bit disadvantaged as I don’t get to quiz the election candidates on some important issues. The postman does make it down my lane and does deliver some propaganda literature from some of the candidates. But they are usually an unconvincing read and to date don’t seem to address all the important issues. So I thought I would make it easier for the candidates, who I’m sure would love to get a vote from me – or anybody else.

I’m asking the election candidates for North Antrim to respond to 3 questions online and I will use any answers I receive to decide how to vote. I am working out my own point scoring system based on answers I receive, or don’t receive.  I can fully appreciate just how busy they all must be so I’ve made it simple by just requesting YES or NO answers.

1/ The first issue is something that many candidates will argue has nothing to do with regional elections. For me however it is important to understand where each candidate stands on the EU Referendum. This referendum will be the most crucial vote that we will have to make in our lifetime. It is arguably more of an issue for Westminster than Stormont but I want to know where each candidate stands before I cast my vote.  I can’t recall what decisions, if any, were made by the last Stormont government, and regardless of what decisions they may, or may not, make in the next few years it will remain the case that most important decisions which affect Northern Ireland will either be made in Westminster, or in Brussels:  as is presently the case. I therefore want to be sure that any politician I may help elect has the wherewithal to understand the complexities of our current membership of the EU. I am particularly interested to know if they are prepared to vote according to their personal beliefs over party policies on this issue.

The basic question is: will you be supporting Brexit and voting Leave on June 23^rd?

[Note: candidates who get this question right will get extra points]

2/ One of the fundamentals of accountable, transparent, democratic government is official opposition.

 Do you enthusiastically support the establishment of an Official Opposition Coalition and would you be willing to join such a voluntary coalition: to hold to account the current mandatory coalition that controls Stormont?

3/ The issue of Anti- Abortion versus Pro-choice issue is massive in Northern Ireland. This is because our politicians want to have different laws here than we have in the rest of the UK. This means that hundreds of young women travel to Britain each year because they believe that their unwanted pregnancy will be seriously detrimental to their lives. It is also the case where some women in this position, who can’t afford the travel costs, terminate their pregnancies illegally. They can be criminalised for this.

I do understand those politicians who, due to deeply held religious convictions, want to have separate laws in Northern Ireland. There is some validity in the claim that the UK 1967 Abortion Act is abused to some extent on the mainland. But the current situation in Northern Ireland is ludicrous: it is legal for a woman to travel to any other part of the UK to have an abortion and yet she cannot get one in her part of the UK. This deprives many Northern Irish women of basic British rights and freedom of choice.  The current political stalemate is causing division and bitterness.

 I believe Stormont should look at implementing the 1967 Abortion Act while those who have difficulties with aspects of it campaign to have the act amended throughout the UK. Surely from a Christian perspective this would be a more worthy plan of action than just simply accepting the status quo for Northern Ireland in isolation? Surely Christian values are as just as important in other parts of the UK as they are here? Surely the life of the ‘unborn child’ is just as important in the mainland as it is in Northern Ireland?

So basic question is: would you support the possibility of adopting the UK’s 1967 Abortion Act in Northern Ireland - if appropriate amendments could be made to that act in the rest of the UK?