DUP minister expects Lockhart to stay in party despite quitting strategy body

DUP minister Paul Givan has expressed confidence that colleague Carla Lockhart will stay in the party despite quitting from its main decision-making body amid a deepening row with the leadership over the future of Stormont.

Upper Bann MP Ms Lockhart is at odds with DUP leader Gavin Robinson on whether the party should withdraw deputy First Minister Emma Little-Pengelly from the powersharing executive.

Ms Lockhart has argued that the party should pull Ms Little-Pengelly from her post as it would automatically remove Sinn Féin First Minister Michelle O’Neill from her position in the joint office they lead together.

Such a step would effectively collapse the devolved administration in Belfast, albeit other individual departmental ministers would remain in post and the Northern Ireland Assembly would continue to sit for a further six months.

Ms Lockhart believes the party should no longer serve alongside Ms O’Neill after the Sinn Féin vice president took part in an allegedly unlawful protest on the Garvaghy Road in Portadown last month.

Mr Robinson said his party had come to an “agreed position” not to pull Ms Little-Pengelly out of the Executive.

Sinn Féin minister John O’Dowd has claimed the internal row within the DUP is evidence that some within the party wanted to step away from the peace process principle of devolved power being shared between unionists and nationalists.

Ms Lockhart quit as a party officer on Thursday, explaining that she could not continue as a member of the team that decided the DUP strategy when she had concerns about that strategy.

The move, which was first reported by the Belfast Telegraph, has led to speculation that she may ultimately quit the party entirely – potentially to join rival unionist party the TUV or sit as an independent.

DUP Education Minister Mr Givan said he expected Ms Lockhart to stay within the party ranks.

“I very much hope and expect that to be the case, that Carla will continue to represent the DUP as our Member of Parliament in Upper Bann, because I do believe that the unionist people do not want to see further fractures,” Mr Givan told BBC Radio Ulster.

He added: “Carla bleeds DUP just like I do, and of course it’s disappointing that she felt not able to remain as a party officer.

“But I very much welcome her remaining within the DUP because she is a valued member of our party, and I know that she’ll continue to make an important contribution to the party and in leading people in Upper Bann.”

Mr Givan insisted that the party shared Ms Lockhart’s aim to remove Ms O’Neill as First Minister.

However, he said the best way to achieve that was by the DUP becoming the largest party in Northern Ireland at next year’s Assembly election.

“Our strategy is the same in that we all want to see Michelle O’Neill removed as First Minister,” he said.

“I believe that the most effective way that we’re going to do that is at the ballot box, and we need to present that position within unionism, and I think what the unionist people want to see is a coming together of the various unionist parties.”

In a statement on Thursday night, Ms Lockhart confirmed her decision to quit as a party officer.

“This afternoon I resigned my position as a DUP party officer. Party officers is a small decision making body of the party, one I have been a part of for the past five years,” she said.

“This is not something I intended to share publicly, but it appears someone internally within the DUP grouping leaked this to the media.

“I believe in standing true to my principles. I cannot continue to be part of the team that decide on the direction and strategy discussions of the party, whilst clearly having concerns about that.”

Ms Lockhart said there was a need for the DUP to ensure there were “profound consequences” for Sinn Féin after the scenes on the Garvaghy Road.

“Whilst the party has been clear that all options are still on the table, I believe that the speed of these needs to be quicker,” she added.

Ms O’Neill attended a police station in Belfast on Wednesday for an arranged interview with officers investigating the unnotified protest, which was staged as part of efforts to stop an Orange Order parade proceeding down the predominantly nationalist road from nearby Drumcree Church.

Mr Robinson was asked about Ms Lockhart’s resignation as a party officer as he appeared on BBC Northern Ireland’s The View programme on Thursday evening.

“I’m sorry to see that it’s occurred,” the party leader replied.

“I appointed Carla to the party officers. She remains a key part of our team.”

Asked if he thought Ms Lockhart may quit the party, Mr Robinson said: “I hope that’s not the case.”

He said he was not going to criticise Ms Lockhart, insisting she still had a “valuable contribution” to make to the DUP.

Earlier on Thursday, Ms Lockhart was asked whether she had confidence in Mr Robinson’s leadership.

She declined to directly endorse him, instead replying to BBC Radio Ulster’s The Nolan Show: “I have confidence that the unionist people want action.”

Sinn Féin president Mary Lou McDonald and Ms O’Neill were both interviewed at Musgrave PSNI station on Wednesday over their participation in the Portadown protest.

The senior republicans were among several Sinn Féin politicians to receive letters from the PSNI asking them to attend for interview.

Politicians from other parties also received letters.

Under parading laws in Northern Ireland, protests must be notified to, and approved by, the Parades Commission adjudication body.

Police are carrying out an investigation into the unnotified protest on the Garvaghy Road on the day the Drumcree parade was meant to proceed and said invitations to attend interviews had been sent to individuals “reasonably suspected of committing offences”.

A Parades Commission decision to allow the Orange Order parade to proceed down the Garvaghy Road for the first time in almost 30 years prompted a two-week stand-off at the site of what was a notorious parading flashpoint during the Troubles.

The parade was ultimately unable to take place because of significant numbers of protesters on the Garvaghy Road, leading Northern Ireland Secretary Sir Chris Bryant to overturn the commission’s decision and ban the procession.

PSNI Chief Constable Jon Boutcher has previously made it clear there would be “consequences” for those found to have broken the law.

Finance Minister Mr O’Dowd said he had been concerned for a long period of time “about people within the DUP who are not wedded to powersharing”.

“It’s been clear there has been an agenda within sections, a significant section of the DUP, who are looking to move away from the executive, from the institutions of the Good Friday Agreement,” he told Radio Ulster.

“Whatever the DUP is going through at this stage is a matter for the DUP.

“But I know this – the way forward for this society in preparation for constitutional change is that we have to share power together and we have to work together, and that’s the only way forward for us as we prepare for what is inevitably constitutional change on this island.”

Mr O’Dowd claimed some within the DUP wanted to return to a system of “one-party rule” in Northern Ireland.

“And that’s never, ever going to happen,” he added.

“Until there’s a realisation or an acceptance within the DUP that the only way forward is a powersharing executive with their nationalist and republican neighbours then we’re always going to have challenges in the institutions.”