North/South Antrim and FST

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Transcript

00:00Doug Beattie, leader of the UUP, we're here in Marker Felt Dog.

00:06Robin Swan is looking in quite a good position, what have you got to say about this?

00:11We thought long and hard about South Antrim as a target seat, we identified it as a target

00:16seat and then we had to move Robin in to do that.

00:20It was a strategic decision that we made, a lot of people are saying that a gamble is

00:23paid off, it wasn't a gamble, it was strategic thinking.

00:26We think we've got Robin across the line in South Antrim and that's the Ulster Unionist

00:30Party back on the green benches at Westminster and that was our core aim.

00:34So that seems to have worked out for us.

00:37And what about, Doug, in North Antrim there's a suggestion that a lot of UUP voters have

00:42backed Jim Allister and that's been quite a strategic move up there, what have you got

00:49to say to that?

00:50No, I mean we've put our candidate forward and that candidate, Jackson Minford, has actually

00:56worked very, very hard.

00:58The electorate will decide what they want to do, if they decide that they're going to

01:01vote for Jim Allister, that's their decision, if they technically want to do that, but it

01:05wasn't our tactic to do that, our tactic was to run Jackson Minford and for Ulster Unionist

01:11Party voters to vote for him, that's a fact.

01:15It's up to them what they do.

01:18It's not the first time it's been suggested to you that UUP voters up there have backed

01:21Jim Allister, you've heard this before?

01:24Well look, it's not just Ulster Unionist Party voters I've got to say, there's other

01:29voters out there who will look to see what change they want and they will vote in a particular

01:32way.

01:33That's the whole point of a democratic election, people will choose what way they want to go

01:37on any particular election and we all know that there are some times that people vote

01:41because they want change and therefore they look to see who's in the best position to

01:45effect that change.

01:46If they've then moved to Jim Allister, that's really up to them, but we're not part of any

01:53deal or anything in regards to that, we're just running our candidate and allowing the

01:56electorate to decide.

02:00From out of South Tyrone?

02:01Yeah, I mean it's too close to call, it's always too close to call.

02:07I know the last election we were 57 votes behind, but with the boundary changes, the

02:12reality is we were about 2,000 votes behind because of the boundary changes, so it's really

02:18close to call and I wouldn't want to put a bet on it, but Diana's done a fantastic

02:23campaign and I genuinely think she's got an opportunity to win.