Jim Wells: Former DUP MLA quits party and endorses rival TUV

Jim Wells had been a DUP member for 46 years

Former Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) assembly member Jim Wells has quit the party and will back the Traditional Unionist Voice (TUV) in the election on 5 May.

Mr Wells had been an assembly member (MLA) for South Down since 1998.

However he was not reselected by the DUP to stand again in the upcoming poll.

In response to Mr Wells' decision, the DUP said the election was more important than personalities.

The party said the seat totals after the election would decide whether Northern Ireland goes in the "right or wrong direction".

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Mr Wells' decision was carried by the Belfast Telegraph, the County Down Outlook and The Nolan Show on BBC Radio Ulster on Tuesday morning.

He said he thought the TUV candidate in South Down, Harold McKee, was the best candidate to represent unionism.

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The DUP chose Diane Forsythe ahead of Mr Wells and she is the party's candidate on 5 May.

Mr Wells told The Nolan Show: "I resigned because I am now free to support publicly and indeed to campaign for the person who I think is the best person to represent unionism in South Down.

"I knew if I remained within the party I couldn't do that."

Mr Wells said he could not support the candidacy of Ms Forsythe, who he said had been "imposed upon us".

He added that he believed Mr McKee, a former Ulster Unionist Party MLA for South Down, shared his "convictions on moral issues".

At the time of his deselection he said he was hurt by what had happened.

"I am hurt, not so much by what has happened, but how it has happened," Mr Wells told BBC News NI.

On Tuesday, he told The Nolan Show that he would give "very serious consideration" to joining the TUV but that he had not made a final decision.

A DUP spokesperson said: "This election is much more than mere personalities. The seat totals after the count will decide whether Northern Ireland goes in the right or wrong direction and our priorities for the next five years.

"Diane Forsythe secured the DUP's best ever result in South Down in 2017.

"She is a young mother rooted in the Mournes with a plan for South Down. Diane will focus on what matters to people."

The candidates standing in South Down are:

• Patrick Brown - Alliance Party

• Patrick Clarke - Independent

• Sinéad Ennis - Sinn Féin

• Diane Forsythe - Democratic Unionist Party

• Noleen Lynch - Green Party

• Jill Macauley - Ulster Unionist Party

• Cathy Mason - Sinn Féin

• Paul McCrory - People Before Profit

• Rosemary McGlone - Aontú

• Colin McGrath - Social Democratic and Labour Party

• Harold McKee - Traditional Unionist Voice

• Karen McKevitt - Social Democratic and Labour Party

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