Mr Brett said,
“Some unionists seem to thrive on attacking fellow unionists rather than offering a credible plan for the future. At the last election those who told unionists “you can’t split the vote in a PR election” were exposed for their foolishness but unfortunately it was at the cost of actual unionist seats. North Antrim is an example. A plethora of unionist candidates resulted in one less unionist in the NI Assembly and one more non-unionist.
As unionists, we must be honest, it wasn’t nationalists or others who caused a number of pro-union seats to be lost at the NI Assembly election. That was the direct result of a splintered unionism where three seats were lost in Strangford, North Antrim and East Antrim. Each constituency had four unionist quotas yet each constituency only three elected unionists. That is not sustainable.
Its no good talking about the theory that you cannot split the vote in a PR election when the real world evidence shows pro-union representation weakened because of those splinters and division.
As Sinn Fein seeks to undermine the Northern Ireland’s place in the United Kingdom, further division within unionism will be music to their ears.”