Unionists Agree Fermanagh Ticket

A single Unionist candidate will be fielded in the North's Fermanagh/South Tyrone in a bid to oust incumbent Irish Republican MP, Michelle Gildernew.

Rodney Connor will run as an Independent Unionist after the DUP and the UUP, along with its electoral partner the Conservatives, agreed to retract their respective Parliamentary candidates.

Mr Connor, a former chief executive at Fermanagh Council, will take the Tory whip but will exercise a free vote on Northern Ireland matters.

Democratic Unionists have been pushing for so-called 'Unionist unity' in both Fermanagh/South Tryone and South Belfast where the incumbent Nationalist and Republican MPs hold a small majority.

Ulster Conservatives and Unionists - the Tory/UUP election banner - had shown some resistance to the plans, however their proposed joint ticket, Tom Elliott, last night withdrew his candidacy.

The DUP's candidate Arlene Foster also announced she would not contest the election, clearing the way for Mr Connor.

She said the agreed single Unionist candidate was "of the utmost integrity and of the highest character".

Tory leader David Cameron and UUP leader Sir Reg Empey had earlier suggested they would position joint candidates in all of Northern Ireland's 18 Westminster constituencies.

SDLP leader Margaret Ritchie today lambasted the DUP and Ulster Conservatives and Unionists' agreement as sectarian.

"David Cameron is guilty of propping up sectarian politics and reinforcing sectarian division," she said.

"It serves as proof that his pledge that his party's foray into political life here was non-sectarian is a lie."

Also standing in the constituency are Sinn Fein's Michelle Gildernew, Fearghal McKinney of the SDLP and the Alliance Party's Vasundhara Kamble.

(PR/BMcC)