Poll Shows 'Overwhelming Support For The Union' - DUP

The DUP has welcomed a University of Liverpool poll showing "overwhelming support for the Union".

Party leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson said that the poll also highlights the choice pro-Union voters will have to make at the forthcoming Northern Ireland Assembly election.

Sir Jeffrey said: "With only one third of respondents expressing support to leave the United Kingdom, the poll exposes Sinn Fein talk about a border poll to be rhetoric and spin. It points to overwhelming support for Northern Ireland remaining part of the United Kingdom.

"Pro-Union voters will have to make a choice at the election to use their first preference vote wisely and support the DUP, and then transfer to other Unionists, to ensure unionism wins or alternatively to have their votes used in a way that allows Sinn Fein to emerge stronger and thus misinterpret the election as support for a border poll. More pro-union seats in the Northern Ireland Assembly will put the brakes on border poll spin.

"The poll points to this being a two-horse race as to who is the largest party in the next Assembly. With Sinn Fein focused more on a border poll than on making Northern Ireland work this poll re-enforces the need for the DUP to win the next election.

We will have a new, fresh team with a mix of youth and experience working for the people. A team that can move Northern Ireland forward, but we need maximum influence in the next Northern Ireland Executive. The more seats we win, the more influence we will have over how the country is run.

"We have a duty to be guardians of the Union today and tomorrow. I recognise that the Protocol is not the number one issue now but without the Irish Sea Border removed, the damage that will be done to the Union will become greater as the UK and EU diverge. This poll demonstrates a majority of people value the Union and as political representatives it is our duty to ensure the Protocol threat to it is removed.

"There are reasonable solutions open to both sides. I welcome that both sides are back at the table negotiating. We will give space for those negotiations to continue but they cannot run indefinitely."