‘I’m sure there’s one or two hearts and minds yet to win’: DUP leader embracing Belfast East battle with Alliance rival

In Belfast East, DUP leader Gavin Robinson bounds from door to door.

“It’s the bit of the job I enjoy most,” he says. “I like chatting, as you know, and when you’ve been representing people for 14 years you build up a relationship – you remember family stories, or things they’ve told you in the past, or concerns they’ve been having.

“We’d be nothing if it wasn’t for our connection with our constituents.”

Robinson is leafleting on Monday afternoon in Tullycarnet, a working-class Protestant estate near Stormont – so near, in fact, that he can point out the views of Parliament Buildings and Stormont Castle.

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However, as Thursday’s UK general election looms, the focus is not on Stormont, but Westminster. Belfast East is the setting of Northern Ireland’s biggest electoral clash, a battle of two party leaders. DUP versus Alliance, Robinson versus Naomi Long; theirs are the faces on the lamp-posts throughout the constituency.

In 2019, Robinson beat Long by 1,819 votes. This time, the presence of a Traditional Unionist Voice (TUV) candidate could make all the difference. The TUV has not run in a general election here since 2010, when it took 1,856 votes and Long beat the then DUP leader, Peter Robinson, to take the seat by a little less than 2019′s margin.

Tullycarnet is an area where the DUP will expect to do well, though the TUV will attempt to make inroads; Alliance, by contrast, will be stronger in the middle-class areas like Ballyhackamore – dubbed Ballysnackamore because of all its cafes and restaurants

Three days out from polling day, the mood among the DUP team in Tullycarnet is one of “steady determination”, says Robinson. “I’m sure there’s one or two hearts and minds yet to win.”

Already won are those of Nikki McMaster and her son, six-year-old Harley Burns. “I see all the stuff that Gavin does in our community, our walkways and our lights and stuff that he has done,” she says. “Harley goes to a special school, and Gavin’s office has helped with any issues with that.”

It is also important to McMaster that the DUP is a unionist party. On the tussle between it and Alliance, she says: “I’ve never had any dealings with Alliance at all, and it wouldn’t be who I would go to for any help. I just don’t think them [Alliance] and my beliefs would align.”

Nearby, Gary is undecided. “I don’t follow politics at all, I’ve just no interest.”

When asked why, he replies: “Well look at the health service, it’s falling to bits.”

On another doorstep, a Mrs Butler is in no doubt about where her vote is going. “We need him [Robinson], we need the likes of him to stand up for the people,” she says.

The DUP has been involved with Mr Butler over issues to do with trees and illegal dumping near her house. “He’s always there, and he’s there when you need him,” she adds.

“That’s what it’s about,” Robinson tells The Irish Times. The media, he says, over-emphasise the constitutional question at election time. “It’s actually about the relationship you build over years on a personal basis ... the most regular contacts I get are about housing, roads, schooling, health issues.”

The return of the Stormont Assembly – which was restored earlier this year after a two-year boycott by the DUP – has also made a difference.

“I haven’t canvassed anyone who thinks it’s a mistake,” says Robinson, “and it’s also removed some hostility from people who may otherwise never vote DUP, but they are pleased with the steps we’ve taken and are glad to see it back.”

At Mrs Butler’s door, they are still chatting. “She [Long] does have a big turnout,” she tells Robinson. “I’d like to think you’ll win, but it’ll be tight.”

Robinson agrees. “It will be tight. We’ll just have to put our best foot forward.”

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