DUP claims North vote may hold key to power

NORTHERN Ireland voters could be kingmakers in a hung parliament, the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) claimed last night in a final appeal for support.

It was only on Tuesday that Conservative leader David Cameron used a campaign visit to Belfast to take swipes at the DUP, but its leader Peter Robinson claimed his party could yet be pivotal to Tory ambitions.

The DUP called for a strong turnout from unionist voters, while Sinn Féin recalled tense political contests of the 1980s in a bid to rally its supporters, with both parties likely to remain dominant over the political scene at the end of this campaign.