The DUP is aiming to broaden its appeal by “building common cause for common sense”.
Speaking ahead of his party’s annual conference this weekend, leader Gavin Robinson said many are left scratching their heads at some of the items being debated at Stormont, claiming even SDLP and Sinn Féin voters have praised his party for “talking common sense”.
In an interview with the Press Association, Mr Robinson also said First Minister Michelle O’Neill’s trip to Cardiff to meet the Scottish and Welsh first ministers to press for constitutional change was “embarrassing” during serious negotiations with London over the Stormont budget.
The Executive remains without a budget for this financial year and is continuing to press the Treasury for a “fair funding settlement”.
“While the Northern Ireland Executive is in serious negotiations with the Treasury and Secretary of State to deliver finance for public services, Michelle O’Neill is in Cardiff poking the Prime Minister in the eye and co-operating with other nationalists and their desire to break up the union… it’s embarrassing and it’s not the right focus,” he said.
“When Andy Burnham said the potential for a border poll is off the table, I think what he meant was it’s not on the table because you’re nowhere close.
“Sinn Féin would have more to show for the last two and half years of government in Northern Ireland if they focused on delivering for their people.”
He claimed Sinn Féin’s position on climate change has “frustrated” the construction of the campaigned for A5 road, as well as the rebuilding of Casement Park, and that they have failed to get legislation they wanted through because of their “focus on their pipedream of a united Ireland”.
Looking ahead to next year’s Assembly elections, Mr Robinson revealed he has met UUP leader Jon Burrows, pressing for unionist co-operation, as well as talking about his respect for those who use the Irish language but scepticism for its “politicisation” by some.
Mr Robinson is going into his third annual party conference after suddenly coming into the role of leader in 2024 following the sudden resignation of disgraced former leader Jeffrey Donaldson after his arrest for child sex abuse.
Mr Robinson said he brought the party back to its “ancestral home” at La Mon Hotel on the outskirts of his East Belfast parliamentary constituency last year for the party conference, and has returned again this year, hailing its familiarity, and happiness by party members to go back to it.
He said they will underline their emphasis on delivery, highlighting 30 achievements over the last 30 months by DUP ministers, described as a snapshot which “stands in sharp contrast to a number of other parties”.
“Our focus is going to be on building common cause for common sense, whether it’s issues that have been raised in the Assembly this week or issues that have prevailed in politics for many years,” he said.
Referencing climate legislation which he said has delayed the construction of the A5, as well as a recent proposed Bill to ban gender or sexuality conversion practices in Northern Ireland, Mr Robinson claimed the public is confused about “progressive policies” which he said “upend their general understanding of life”.
He called for the “right attitude” from ministers, emphasising you do not get everything you want in the current set-up, and all have a “responsibility to reach as much consensus as you can to deliver for people”.
“Building common cause for common sense has many strands to it – good government, public services, ensuring that climate change doesn’t become an inhibitor to public safety and infrastructural improvements in Northern Ireland, on gender, on conversion therapy, on a whole host of issues…
“We will stand up and say what we believe to be the right thing, even sometimes when it’s unfashionable or unpopular in the mainstream.
“It’s amazing just how many people from rural backgrounds, more traditional backgrounds, people who, even in the past, would have voted for Sinn Féin or the SDLP, just struggle to understand what those parties are doing on their behalf, and they look to us and say, ‘Actually, you and your colleagues, you’re talking common sense’.”
