The Orange Chronicle        

Scottish lodges pledge to oppose all attempts to sever the Union

ALMOST 15,000 Orange members from 257 lodges paraded on the streets of Glasgow and Cumnock „ in Scotland on Saturday.

Brethren heard three resolutions on loyalty to the Crown, Protestant heritage and a warning about the perils of devolution in Scotland and a potential weakening of the Union.

The resolution read: "As loyal subjects of the British Crown, committed to the maintenance of the United Kingdom, we pledge ourselves to oppose all attempts to sever the Union that binds us to our kith and kin in England, Wales and Northern Ireland.

"The present economic crisis has proven beyond all doubt that Scotland's best interests are served within the combined strength and security of the United Kingdom.

"Attempts by the First Minister to convince us that we would be better off as a small independent nation like Iceland or Ireland have been discredited by world events. The British Union is here to stay and we pledge ourselves to maintain it. United we stand - divided we fall.

"We are dismayed by plans to give the Scottish Parliament even more responsibilities when it has failed to deliver on the powers it already has. The present Holyrood administration has presided over an appalling decline in moral, health and educational standards.

"Scottish education - once the envy of the world - is now trailing behind other countries. Far too many of our young people, poorly educated and lacking career opportunities, are being drawn into a deadly culture of binge drinking and drugs.

"We call upon our politicians, whose own reputation has been so recently stained by personal greed and corruption, to discipline the guilty parties in their own ranks and show the leadership, honesty and commitment that the people of our nation demand and deserve."

Unionists are now 'setting the pace' - Robinson at Scottish `Twelfth`

First Minister Peter Robinson with Jim McHarg, County Grand Master of Ayrshire.

Published Date: 06 July 2009
UNIONISTS in Northern Ireland are now "setting the pace" for the first time in a generation, First Minister Peter Robinson has said.
Speaking to thousands of Orangemen and supporters at Cumnock in Scotland as the principle speaker and guest of the County Grand Lodge of Ayshire, Renfrewshire & Argyll the DUP leader said that, "under Direct Rule Dublin and Sinn Fein called the shots and our British government appeased nationalists and republicans in ways that diluted Northern Ireland's Britishness and imperilled the Union".

He added: "Devolution in our context has actually strengthened the United Kingdom because it gives those of us who truly believe in the Union a much greater say in what goes on in our own country. For the first time in a generation, unionists are setting the pace in Northern Ireland."

He said Sinn Fein used to boast about bringing about a United Ireland by 2016.

"No sober republican talks seriously about that anymore," he said. "People can see and understand that the United Ireland project is dead in the water and isn't going to advance. Only apathy and division among unionists can endanger the Union. As unionists we have our own future in our own hands.

"The threat of Republicanism can be taken on and defeated if we act in a coordinated and level-headed fashion. In Northern Ireland we have one clearly dominant nationalist party, Sinn Fein, making the case against staying inside the United Kingdom. We cannot afford a situation where three or four Unionist parties split the vote at election time and hand seats to nationalists and republicans. Divided Unionism is defeated Unionism."

Mr Robinson said in Scotland and Wales the voice of those who seek independence has grown louder "but I do not believe the desire to cut the tie which binds this Kingdom together has grown".

He said: "The advantages of the Union do not shrink down to economic returns but even in this area recent times have demonstrated how vulnerable the separate parts of the UK would have been during the global economic turmoil if they had been standing alone.

"There is no part of the UK where nationalists are in a majority. The forces of the Union still hold the upper hand. Each part of the UK benefits from this union of nations."

Mr Robinson said Northern Ireland, Scotland, England and Wales together form one of the largest economies in the world.

He said: "We have a permanent seat on the UN Security Council, we are a leading G8 country which enjoys a uniquely special relationship with the world's only Superpower, the United States of America. We have a proud history and equally - a bright future. Considering all of these factors, the lures of nationalism, of whatever variety, seem hollow and base."