THE outcome of next week's Westminster election will help determine whether devolution is restored in the near future, DUP leader Arlene Foster has claimed.
The former first minister was speaking yesterday at her party's general election manifesto launch.
The DUP is defending eight Westminster seats and also targeting South Belfast and South Antrim, where it believes there are potential gains from the SDLP and Ulster Unionists respectively.
Yesterday's launch in Antrim town, in the South Antrim constituency, appeared designed to raise the profile of DUP candidate Paul Girvan, who beyond introducing Mrs Foster and deputy leader Nigel Dodds, spoke very few words.
The 'Standing Strong for Northern Ireland' manifesto pledges to enhance incomes, make the north more globally competitive and improve public services.
The measures it proposes to help families better manage their finances include an increase to the living wage, "better control" of energy bills, and a reduction or possible abolishment of the television licence fee.
A cut in the regional corporation tax rate to 12.5 per cent continues to be party policy, alongside an expansion of the tourism sector and a pledge to maintain the "present workers' rights framework" – which suggests keeping EU-wide employment regulations under a different post-Brexit guise.
The DUP also proposes a "national reform plan" that would look at alternative ways of delivering government services.
The manifesto makes a call for the immediate restoration of devolution, with Mrs Foster arguing that a "direct consequence" of the surge in support for Sinn Féin in March's assembly election was Stormont suspension.
"Even though this is not an election to the assembly, it will go a long way towards determining whether devolution is restored or if we are to be ruled directly from Westminster for the next five years, setting the direction for Northern Ireland for decades to come," she said.
She outlined five conditions for her party supporting the restoration of devolution.
The DUP wants an agreement that will increase support for Northern Ireland's position within the UK; one that will be fully consistent with the region remaining a "full and integral part" of the UK; will be fully compatible with British citizenship and result in better government than a return to direct rule.
Mrs Foster said, for her, the most important issue at the forthcoming election "is not devolution but the union itself".
She called on all unionists to rise to the challenge from Sinn Féin leader Gerry Adams and put a border poll off the agenda for generations.
"Sinn Fein want to use this election as a precursor to a border poll," she said.
"Gerry Adams has declared that this election will be a barometer on Irish unity."
The DUP leader said Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn's record meant she was not neutral about who wins the election.
She also attacked republicans' abstentionist policy.
"It is a perverse logic that a vote for Sinn Féin – the party which claims to oppose a Conservative government – will do the most to give the prime minister a free hand on Brexit, on the border and on the level of public spending in Northern Ireland," she said.
"Sinn Féin complains about Tory cuts but isn’t prepared to lift a hand at Stormont or at Westminster to stop them."
