The Press MONDAY, JUNE 15, 1970. The Ulster Enigma

Press, Volume CX, Issue 32323, 15 June 1970, Page 10

The Press MONDAY, JUNE 15, 1970. The Ulster Enigma

It has been said, rather disarmingly, that election issues in Ulster are totally divorced from those on the British mainland. Ulster sends 12 representatives to Westminster. Looking at the parties contesting these seats, “ The Times ” has pointed out that there are sixteen possible permutations of Catholic or Protestant, conservative or socialist, pro-partition, or anti-partition, working class or middle class. It is not surprising, in this context, that the number of candidates offering is the largest in the province’s stormy history. And, with the Rev. lan Paisley rampaging through the electorate demanding a Protestant denial of all Catholic pretensions, the Unionists are wondering whether they can maintain their record of winning most of the seats easily. Mr Paisley showed the strength of his following when he and a colleague recently won two Stormont' bv-elections against accredited Unionist candidates. Now he is expected to win in North Antrim, on a platform in which bigotry is the main plank. The Unionists are trying hard to put up a show of unity. They make no concessions to Catholic feelings, but say that they will seek support from each section of the voters, whether Catholic or Protestant. Yet if the party is “ running scared ”, as the “ Economist ” has suggested, “ in the face of massive disaffection

“by their bewildered and angry supporters ”, the stage might be set for vote-splitting on a disastrous scale. The case of Miss Devlin, standing again for Mid-Ulster as a Unity candidate, is another matter. The vehemence of her Left-wing views is thought to have estranged much of the support that sent her to Westminster in the first place, although she may still be preferred to the rabid Paisleyite, Major Bunting, who is also in the field. Against this background, the “Economist” thinks that the outcome is less predictable today than at any time since Mr Gladstone committed the Liberal Party to Irish home rule in 1886.