DUP 'Undersold' Sinn Fein Partnership

DUP leader Peter Robinson has vowed his party will work to reconnect with the electorate after a 'disappointing' day at the European polls, prompting speculation of an early Stormont Executive reshuffle.

Speaking last night, Mr Robinson said his party had 'undersold' its case for entering into government with Sinn Fein to unionist voters.

His comments come after Diane Dodds scraped an MEP seat for the DUP, emerging third behind Sinn Fein's Bairbre de Brun and Unionist and Conservative Jim Nicholson.

Ms Dodds took the remaining Northern Ireland seat despite failing to reach the necessary quota.

A three-way split in the unionist vote has been blamed for the DUP's election slump.

Jim Allister, leader of the Traditional Unionist Voice and former DUP MEP, attracted over 66,000 first preference votes with his anti-Agreement stance.

Commentators are now suggesting Mr Allister could take further ground from the DUP in future Westminster and Assembly elections.

The European poll was topped by Ms de Brun - a spot held for almost thirty years by the DUP.

Ms Dodds gained a 18.2% share of the overall votes, down from 32% in 2004.

Mr Robinson, the First Minister, said lessons could be learned from Sinn Fein's European election campaign.

"I'm not one who regularly blogs but I did read one comment which I thought was pertinent where it said Sinn Fein have an awful lot to learn from the DUP in terms of governance but the DUP have an awful lot to learn from Sinn Fein in terms of communicating with their base.

"There's a lot of truth in that."

Mr Robinson said unionist bickering and division keeps the electorate away from polling stations.

"We had a three way split for the unionist vote and the consequences can be seen," he said.

The party leader suggested a significant portion of the DUP's support base had "stayed at home".

"There's a message in that for us. We have to connect and communicate with those people. We have to win those votes out.

"It's our responsibility to ensure we can motivate people to come out to the polls and that's what we'll set about doing. You'll see a very different DUP after this election."

He recognised a large number of unionists find it "difficult" to have Sinn Fein in government.

"I believe that we have undersold our case. People need to know there was no more acceptable alternative available. I don't believe we have communicated that message sufficiently to our own support base."

News emerged this afternoon that Mr Robinson my rush through a reshuffle of DUP Stormont ministers.

It is believed a number of the party's MPs will no longer sit at the Executive table, following a furore over double-jobbing.

(PR/JM)