ConservativeHome's Seats & Candidates blog

UUP MP Sylvia Hermon quits party and confirms she will fight North Down as an Independent

Last month it was confirmed that the sole Ulster Unionist MP Sylvia Hermon would not be seeking re-election at the general election under the joint UUP/Conservative banner. She has long been sceptical about the alliance and I speculated that she may yet stand again as an Independent.

My suspicions have proved correct. This morning she has announced that she has resigned from the UUP and will indeed stand in North Down as an Independent.

The Conservative and Unionist candidate in the seat will be North Down councillor Ian Parsley, who defected from the Alliance Party to the Conservatives last September. He explained his move in this post for ConservativeHome at the time.

Jonathan Isaby

Eight further candidates selected to contest seats in Northern Ireland

Eight further candidates have today been endorsed to stand in constituencies in Northern Ireland under the joint Conservative and Unionist banner. They are:

• Antrim East – Rodney McCune
• Antrim North – Irwin Armstrong
• Belfast North – Fred Cobain
• Belfast South – Paula Bradshaw
• Down North – Ian Parsley
• Fermanagh and South Tyrone – Tom Elliott
• Foyle – David Harding
• Londonderry East – Lesley McAuley

Yesterday shadow Northern Ireland Secretary Owen Paterson and UUP leader Sir Reg Empey wrote this article in the Belfast News Letter emphasising the benefits to the people of Nothern Ireland of the electoral alliance between the Conservatives and UUP:

"By standing jointly as Conservatives and Unionists we will be the only party in Northern Ireland at the General Election offering people the chance to support and shape truly national politics. We will be giving people here the chance to vote for a party that can actually form the government of the United Kingdom... If the Conservatives win the election, Conservative and Unionist MPs from Northern Ireland will be able to play a full role in a Conservative Government. That includes being eligible to serve as ministers."

"To listen to some commentators or parties here, you would think that the idea of having normal politics is an affront. These people seem to have their own selfish strategic interests in maintaining Northern Ireland as a political backwater – either from the standpoint of a little Ulster mentality or because they want to portray Northern Ireland as a failed entity. We believe that Northern Ireland deserves better.

"Conservatives and Unionists will be backing a government committed to tackling our national debt, promoting economic growth, delivering social justice and strengthening society; we will improve our public services and maintain our security in an increasingly dangerous world. It is only the Conservatives and Unionists who are committed to ending the scandal of double-jobbing that scars politics in this part of the United Kingdom."

There is now just one outstanding selection in Northern Ireland, Antrim South.

Jonathan Isaby

The thirteen seats where a Conservative candidate is yet to be selected

Yesterday's selection in Hyndburn was the last seat in England to pick its Conservative candidate, and the selections in mid-February in Aberavon, Neath and Ogmore were the final vacancies in Wales to be filled.

There remain four seats to select a Conservative candidate in Scotland along with the remaining nine constituencies in Northern Ireland.

They are:

• Aberdeen North
• Antrim East
• Antrim North
• Antrim South
• Belfast North
• Belfast South
• Cumbernauld, Kilsyth and Kirkintilloch East
• Down North
• Fermanagh and South Tyrone
• Foyle
• Glasgow North East
• Londonderry East
• Motherwell and Wishaw

11.45am update: Stewart Whyte is the candidate for Aberdeen North.

Jonathan Isaby

Sylvia Hermon MP will not be the Conservative/UUP candidate for her North Down seat

It was confirmed last night that Sylvia Hermon, Ulster Unionist MP for North Down, will not be seeking re-election under the joint Tory/UUP banner at the general election.

This does not come as a great surprise, since she has never been known to be a great supporter of the electoral alliance the two parties have forged and has been viewed at Westminster as largely sympathetic to New Labour. She may yet stand in North Down as an Independent.

The UUP has nominated candidates for the other 17 seats in Northern Ireland, as reproduced on the BBC website; now the Conservatives have to finalise their nominees for the province's 18 seats, before the candidate selection process is finalised when the Conservative and Ulster Unionist Joint Committee meets to settle which candidates will stand in which seats.

The process has taken longer than most of us  would have wished, but giving the people of Northern Ireland the the opportunity to again vote for candidates who can aspire to serve in a UK government is a noble cause which will have been worth the hard work it has taken from all involved to pull off.

Jonathan Isaby