TUV leader sets election priority as ‘reunifying the United Kingdom’

David Young, PA

TUV leader Jim Allister set his priority as “reunifying the United Kingdom” as he unveiled candidates for the upcoming UK General Election that included several former DUP members, including former Stormont health minister Jim Wells.

Mr Wells, a DUP member for 47 years, will stand in South Down for TUV/Reform UK, while former DUP director of policy Dr Dan Boucher will run in South Belfast and Mid Down; and ex-DUP representative on Mid and East Antrim council David Clarke will contest the race in north Belfast.

Mr Allister confirmed he would run in his own constituency of North Antrim.

TUV/Reform UK hopes to stand in 15 out of Northern Ireland’s 18 constituencies. It unveiled 13 candidates on Friday and said it was still in the process of identifying candidates in Foyle and West Tyrone.

It had already decided not to run in North Down to clear a path for independent unionist Alex Easton and, on Friday, Mr Allister said candidates would also not run in Fermanagh and South Tyrone – where the sole unionist is now set to be the UUP’s Diana Armstrong – and Upper Bann.

In Upper Bann, Mr Allister said he did not want to do anything that might assist Sinn Féin taking the seat from the DUP’s Carla Lockhart. He said the “relative strength” of Ms Lockhart’s position on post-Brexit trading arrangements was a factor in the decision not to stand against her.

The TUV, which did not stand candidates in the 2019 general election, has struck an alliance with Reform UK that will see candidates run under a joint banner in this campaign. Reform UK has pledged financial support to the TUV for campaigning activities.

At the candidate launch event in Co Antrim, Mr Allister restated his opposition to the deal the DUP struck with the UK government over post-Brexit trade barriers that paved the way for the restoration of devolution at Stormont in February.

He said the Safeguarding the Union command paper had not removed the “partitioning border” in the Irish Sea that, he insisted, had separated Northern Ireland from the rest of the UK.

Earlier in the week, newly confirmed DUP leader Gavin Robinson conceded the deal had been oversold and acknowledged more “cautious realism” had been required.

Mr Allister alleged Mr Robinson had his “fingerprints all over” the deal, as he accused the DUP of signing up to arrangements that had effectively ended the United Kingdom as an entity.

“Reunification of the United Kingdom and equal citizenship is the overriding demand of TUV/Reform UK,” he said.

“This nation needs to be reunified. Some might aspire to the unification of Ireland. We demand the reunification of the United Kingdom.”

Mr Wells quit the DUP in 2022 having not been re-selected as a party candidate in that year’s Assembly election. He has been supportive of TUV policies since.

The former Executive minister said he was “absolutely disgusted” with the direction the DUP had taken in the last two years as he claimed the deal that restored Stormont was “unravelling”.

“I’m giving the people of South Down a chance to vote to show their unhappiness with what’s been going on,” he said.