Unionists square off with Govt after win

Press, 28 January 1986, Page 26

Unionists square off with Govt after win

NZPA-Reuter Belfast

The leaders of Northern Ireland’s Protestant majority plan an early showdown with the British Government after elections in which most voters supported candidates opposed to a pact giving the Irish Republic a say in the province. They would argue that the 418,000 votes for 14 Protestant candidates supporting continued union with Britain represented a rejection of the AngloIrish Accord which the Government would ignore at its peril. The leaders will seek a meeting with Mrs Thatcher tomorrow.

Fifteen Protestant politicians resigned their seats late last year and sought re-election in a symbolic test of opposition to the pact Government officials described the vote as less overwhelming than fore-

cast, as Unionist leaders had talked of winning 500,000 votes, or more than half the electorate. The Unionists actually lost one seat to a moderate Catholic-nationalist supporting the pact, and almost 370,000 of the eligible voters did not cast ballots.

The officials made it clear that there was no question of tearing up or renegotiating the accord, which was endorsed by Parliament with one of the largest majorities in its history. The next stage in the Unionists’ opposition campaign could be for Union-ist-controlled local councils to refuse to set a figure for an annual tax on house-owners. The Government would then have to set its own rate or take legal action against the councillors. All Protestants could also be ordered to quit

Government bodies running services such as health, education and housing. If this failed to sway the Government a campaign of civil disobedience could begin, with Protestants refusing to pay such things as annual road tax and television licences.

The Government will seek to persuade the Unionists to start talks with leaders of the Catholic minority on a return to regional Government for the province. It says that unlike the Protestant-run Stormont Parliament that existed in Northern Ireland before Britain imposed direct rule in 1972, power in a new devolved Government would have to be shared with Catholics. Unionists have so far refused to consider power-sharing.