Deputy leader's speech: The following is an edited version of the conference address by the party deputy leader, Mr Peter Robinson.
Our day has come. We are a party with a mission. In the last six months we have begun the transformation of unionism and with it the course of history in Northern Ireland.
We are the largest party in Northern Ireland by the will of the people. Last November changed everything. Its significance was not simply that we won more seats than any other party, but that unionism is now under new management.
In just over four weeks we have the first test of public opinion in Northern Ireland since last November.
Today sees the formal launch of our campaign. It is a critical election for the party. Having defeated the UUP in November we must consolidate that victory and stay ahead of Sinn Féin.
Let me serve notice on the Ulster Unionist Party. Last November was no flash in the pan.
In 2000 there were 10 Ulster Unionist MPs at Westminster - today there are five - and there is not a single safe Ulster Unionist seat left in the country.
After the defeats imposed on unionism by the UUP in the Belfast Agreement, at Weston Park and in the Hillsborough Joint Declaration - some of which is still unfolding - unionism is emerging confident and determined.
The pages were not clean when we were handed the book of unionist authority but our task is to make good our pledges. In the referendum we warned that some of Trimble's blunders, once made, would be irretrievable. I told you at conference two years ago that some of his concessions could not be undone.
However, we pledged to deal with the unaccountable form of devolution and North/Southery.
We are committed to ensuring there will be no Executive places for those who have not demonstrably left terrorism behind.
We are in the business of blocking the development of the united Ireland process.
We do not find acceptable a Union based on a grudging "if you must stay you can" mentality. We will work to strengthen our great Union.
Having been on the back foot for the last six years we can now take control of our destiny.
No people can make better use of peace than we can. However, no people know better that you can't kill off terrorism by smothering it with concessions.
The UUP sought as its strategic goal to seek peace with terrorists. The DUP wants an end to their existence! If your strategy is to seek peace with the terrorists then you will inevitably be sucked into paying for the silence of their guns - and so it has been. You will find yourself coexisting with the terrorists and always having to appease them for fear they turn up their terror. That is the rationale of the Belfast Agreement.
If, on the other hand, you have a clear strategic goal of eliminating terrorism and your prime aim is not peace but rather a determination to face down terrorism, it makes no sense to negotiate peace with terrorists.
I do not want peace with terrorists! I want the destruction of terrorism! The strategy to follow is therefore to ensure that the door is closed to terrorists and only open for democrats. Instead of bringing the terrorists inside and hoping to wean them off violence, you keep them outside until you can verify that they have left violence behind permanently.
I can hear a voice from Connolly House saying: "But we have a mandate." Let me make it clear - electoral success is no substitute for democratic legitimacy.
We can work with democrats. We will not work with terrorists.
It is not for us to accept that republicans are capable of change. It is for them to convince us, and the world, that they have changed. On this issue this party will not budge.
We want to see devolution returned to Northern Ireland but we will not take devolution at any price. Let me make this commitment to you today.
Over the next months we shall work night and day to bring about the return of devolution but we will not shift on matters of principle.