Ulster Unionist Party Councillor Julie Flaherty has condemned a tweet from Craigavon Sinn Fein Councillor Catherine Nelson, in which she referred to British Secretaries of State as ‘symbols of British occupation’ and used the phrase ‘send them home.’

Councillor Flaherty said:

“On Wednesday night a tweet from Councillor Catherine Nelson referred to the Secretary of State and included the line ‘send them home.’

“When some of Donald Trump’s supporters at a rally last week started chanting “send her back” in relation to a Congresswoman born outside the USA, there was a political outcry on both sides of the Atlantic.

“Catherine Nelson’s tweet was a throwback to the old republican mantra of ‘Brits Out’ and a long way away from their modern mantra of ‘equality, rights and respect’, all of which are in short supply from Sinn Fein.

“The Belfast Agreement recognised the legitimacy of the sovereignty of the United Kingdom over Northern Ireland. The Secretary of State is the representative of Her Majesty’s Government in Northern Ireland. To tell her to go home is grossly offensive to both the Government and the unionist community and shows very clearly how little Councillor Nelson understands the very same Belfast Agreement that Sinn Fein is so fond of lecturing us about.

“If a unionist politician had tweeted telling a visiting Taoiseach or Tánaiste to ‘go home’ one can only imagine the response.

“Councillor Nelson needs to apologise for her remarks and remember that words have consequences. Hundreds of thousands of British citizens live in Northern Ireland. We are home and we aren’t going anywhere.”

Full tweet was as follows –

Brokenshire, Villiers, Bradley, Smith - all symbols of British occupation. None will ever serve the interests of the people of this island. Their focus is & will remain maintaining what little is left of their crumbling empire. Only way to send them home - #IrishUnity #Think32