Independent unionist Claire Sugden turns down UUP offer

Claire Sugden says Doug Beattie is an impressive leader

Independent unionist Claire Sugden has turned down a request to join the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP).

It is understood the party's new leader Doug Beattie asked the East Londonderry MLA to consider the move last month.

Ms Sugden told BBC News NI she had been elected as an independent and had no plans to join any party.

But she said she had not ruled out a move to the Ulster Unionists in the long term.

"I have built up a strong profile as an independent MLA over the past seven years and to move now would put all that hard work at risk," she said.

"Doug Beattie is an impressive leader but he is just starting out on that journey so it is too soon to judge what impact he will have on the party."

Ms Sugden was co-opted to the seat in East Londonderry after the death of former UUP and later independent MLA David McClarty in 2014.

She worked as Mr McClarty's parliamentary assistant and managed his election campaign after he quit the UUP in 2011.

Ms Sugden also served as Stormont justice minister from May 2016 to March 2017.

Doug Beattie says Julie-Anne Corr-Johnston "is tuned into the community’s needs"

Mr Beattie said on Wednesday that he would "give my right arm" to have Ms Sugden join the party.

"I think Claire is a fantastic unionist MLA," Mr Beattie said. "I think she shares my vision of unionism.

"I think she understands also that unionism has been damaged over these last many years and we need to improve that vision."

He said he hoped to persuade her in the future.

It was a game of two halves for Doug Beattie.

Claire Sugden was approached by Doug Beattie last month. She's a former justice minister and in her mid 30s, so if Mr Beattie wanted to change the age profile of the party, then she fits that bill very well.

She's very experienced and very well thought of, but she wants to remain an independent and has no plans to join any other party.

But I sense that the door may not be closed forever. She said she thought Doug Beattie was an impressive leader, but said it was too early to judge.

I take it from that that it's a no for now, but not necessarily a no in the longer-term.

Julie-Anne Corr-Johnston is a well-known name in North Belfast and knows all about the hustle and bustle of politics.

So persuading the former PUP councillor to sign on for the UUP is a coup for Mr Beattie.

On Wednesday it was announced that former Progressive Unionist Party councillor Julie-Anne Corr-Johnston had joined the party.

She said she would stand as a candidate in North Belfast in next year's Northern Ireland Assembly election.

Mr Beattie said he was committed to reaching out to the loyalist community and bringing more women into the party.

He said the recruitment of Mrs Corr-Johnston "shows that we are building a team who want to build a union of people and who share a vision for a modern, accepting Northern Ireland".

Mrs Corr-Johnston said she identified as a loyalist and believed unionism "is an ideology that can be shared by people from many identities".

She said the constituency "needs change".

"The area continues to rank amongst the worst levels of social deprivation, high levels of our young people are leaving school without employment skills, we need more and better quality social homes and a chilling number of our people are being lost to suicide," she said.

"I believe that with the UUP I can make a real and lasting difference to North Belfast."