Unionist move robs Sinn Féin of ministry

Sinn Féin today faced the prospect of losing a ministerial post in Northern Ireland’s next devolved government after a senior loyalist Assembly member agreed to join the Ulster Unionist group at Stormont.

As Northern Ireland’s 108 Assembly members prepared to gather at Stormont on Monday for the first time since they were elected in November 2003, the Progressive Unionist Party announced their leader David Ervine would form a group with Sir Reg Empey’s Ulster Unionists.