UUP's Beattie apologises after poster complaint

UUP candidate Doug Beattie said he replaced the posters after being alerted by PSNI

The Ulster Unionist MLA and Upper Bann Westminster candidate Doug Beattie has apologised after he was forced to remove and replace election posters.

A complaint was made to the PSNI because the posters did not follow electoral commission regulations.

The posters did not include the name of the printer or publisher, which is required of all printed election material.

The posters were replaced after Mr Beattie was alerted by the PSNI.

It comes one day after the DUP candidate in the same constituency blamed a "printing error" for an inaccurate claim in his promotional leaflet about visiting soldiers in Afghanistan.

In a statement, Mr Beattie said: "I have been informed that a number of my election posters which had been recycled from previous elections, did not have an imprint which included the name of the printer and my current election agent.

"As the candidate I have to take full responsibility and apologise to anyone who was offended by my original recycled posters.

"Someone took the time to contact the police and as soon as they made me aware of the issue, I acted swiftly and have removed the offending posters and replaced them with new posters which do bear the correct imprint."