Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
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.