Unionist MP refuses to stand as a Tory
The only Ulster Unionist MP will not stand under a Conservative banner at the next general election, it was revealed today.
Lady Sylvia Hermon said she was refusing to campaign as a Conservative and Ulster Unionist candidate for her affluent North Down seat in Northern Ireland.
The next Westminster poll is expected within a year.
Lady Sylvia said: “I can’t see myself standing under a Conservative banner.”
Speculation had been circulating for some time that she would distance herself from her party’s link up with David Cameron’s Conservatives.
The liberal-minded lawyer has repaid £2,730 in expenses for rent on a London flat.
She said she was overpaid by two months’ rental allowance during 2005-2006.
She added she only discovered the error when she contacted the Fees Office on Monday.
The Ulster Unionists are fighting the European elections in around three weeks time under the Conservative and Unionist flag.
Lady Hermon told the BBC: “If my party choose to move to call themselves by a different name I am terribly sorry and disappointed by that, but I remain an Ulster Unionist, that is certainly my mandate.
“I have loved and enjoyed serving the people of north Down, they have stood by me through the most difficult of times, if they choose and wish me to continue to serve them I will do my very best to do that.”
