Suspending UUP three ‘unlawful’

THE Ulster Unionist Party unlawfully suspended three dissident MPs from the party for rebelling against the leadership, the High Court in Belfast ruled yesterday.

A High Court judge ruled that an Ulster Unionist disciplinary committee was not properly constituted to deal with complaints against three MPs, Jeffrey Donaldson, the Rev Martin Smyth and David Burnside.

The three MPs had resigned the party whip at Westminster in protest at the Ulster Unionist Council’s backing for the party leadership’s position on the British and Irish Governments’ joint declaration on the future of the Good Friday Agreement.