Ulster Unionist Party Leader Steve Aiken OBE MLA, has urged voters in the rest of the United Kingdom – especially Scotland – to think carefully before casting their ballots in Thursday’s elections.
Steve Aiken OBE MLA said:
“Tomorrow, across the rest of our Nation, the polls will open for voting in local elections and also for the Scottish Parliament and Welsh Assembly. For many voters the issues will be about local council issues, but in Scotland and Wales, the question of the Union is being raised. There is a wide Northern Ireland Diaspora, across the whole of the United Kingdom, including many of my own family, who will be voting.
“For those who have made their homes in Scotland and Wales, I’d like to encourage them to look closely at the policies and attitudes of all of the political parties, and in placing their vote, also consider those parties’ position on the Union.
“As committed Unionists, what happens in the rest of the United Kingdom both interests and affects us. We want to see this country – and all of its constituent parts – thrive and grow ever stronger. The loss of Scotland or Wales from the United Kingdom would be a source of very real pain for those of us who love this country.
“While the SNP’s record on education, the economy and governance all raise very obvious concerns, their calls for a Second Independence Referendum - IndyRef2 - are not only destabilising, they fly in the face of the commitments the leadership of that party made in 2014. Not only do the people of Scotland, but the whole of the United Kingdom, deserve better.”