NIUP deputy leader to resign from Assembly

The deputy leader of the Northern Ireland Unionist Party has announced his intention to resign from the Assembly at the next Stormont elections.

Patrick Roche, a former economics lecturer who formed the NIUP after a split from Robert McCartney’s UK Unionist Party, said he will not be seeking re-election due to a family illness.

Mr Roche’s departure is expected to heighten the electoral battle between Ian Paisley’s Democratic Unionist Party and First Minister David Trimble’s Ulster Unionist Party.