"Ulster Unionists are no 'centrists'": Alderdice

12.00.00am BST (GMT +0100) Mon 18th Apr 2005

North Down candidate David Alderdice has branded David Trimble's comments that the Ulster Unionists are centrists as 'rooted in unreality'.

Responding to Mr Trimble's comments on the BBC's Breakfast with Frost, Dr Alderdice said: "Ulster Unionists and the SDLP had five years after the Agreement to deliver power-sharing administration and political progress. What they have delivered was power-division and political stagnation.

"The Ulster Unionists are no 'centrists' and these comments simply show how rooted in unreality they are. They and the SDLP delivered a political carve-up that was in nobody's interests. They have had their chance, their day has passed.

"Indeed, recent UUP leaflets indicate a lurch to the extreme and an attempt to outdo the DUP.

"A political breakthrough will be made more likely if we give a mandate to parties representing the whole community together, through inclusive representation not a sectarian carve-up. Of the parties with real influence in Northern Ireland, only Alliance seeks to do this. Only Alliance holds out the promise of real progress on behalf of all democrats in Northern Ireland."

ENDS