UUP defectors urge voters to reject Trimble

Three former Ulster Unionists who defected to the Democratic Unionist Party have called on unionist voters to reject David Trimble in the Assembly election later this month.

The three, Denis Watson, Peter Weir and Nelson McCausland, also called on voters not to support the anti-agreement wing of the UUP.

They made the call at a DUP press conference in Belfast today, where they appeared alongside Andrew Hunter, a former British Conservative Party MP who also defected to the DUP.

Speaking at the conference, Mr Weir said the UUP had failed and could not be trusted. He said he left the party because it had abandoned ordinary unionists.

Mr Hunter, meanwhile, said anti-agreement unionists voters were facing a confusing choice between the DUP, independent candidates and anti-agreement UUP dissidents.

He said unionist voters should ask these dissidents if they would support Mr Trimble as First Minister and if they agreed with his election manifesto.

Only the DUP, Mr Hunter said, could guarantee that it would push for a re-negotiation of the Good Friday Agreement.