Leaving DUP was a particularly painful and difficult decision – Lockhart

Leaving the DUP was a “particularly painful and difficult decision”, Carla Lockhart has said.

The Upper Bann MP said that she felt she could not stay in the party after she claimed it failed to deliver “profound consequences” for First Minister Michelle O’Neill following the Drumcree dispute in her constituency.

Ms Lockhart also claimed that the unionist people are “ahead of the DUP” in terms what she termed Ms O’Neill’s “flagrant law breaking”.

She contended there was a “flame lit within unionism” on the issue.

Ms O’Neill attended a voluntary interview with police probing alleged breaches of the Parades Commission determination allowing the Drumcree Orange Order parade along the mainly nationalist Garvaghy Road in Portadown.

The First Minister has said she stands by her decision to support the Garvaghy Road residents.

Ms Lockhart had called for the DUP to withdraw deputy First Minister Emma Little-Pengelly from office, also removing Ms O’Neill.

However the DUP announced instead an end of joint engagements with Ms Little-Pengelly and Ms O’Neill.

The Upper Bann MP announced her resignation from the DUP on Monday, along with her intention to sit in Westminster as an independent unionist.

She told UTV on Tuesday she has spent 20 years as an elected representative for the DUP, describing it as her “political home” and colleagues that feel like family.

“It was a particularly painful and difficult decision, not one that I arrived at quickly or with haste. I had to reflect,” she said.

“It is on a point of principle. I laid my stall very clearly that when the DUP said profound consequences, we needed to follow through on that because for too long within politics there hasn’t been a following through on what people actually say.

“I felt I couldn’t continue. I spoke in front of a crowd of 15,000 people in Portadown just two Saturday nights ago, and I said what I said.

“My word has to mean something in politics.

“Ultimately what has guided me in all of this has been the people that have put me where I am, and I believe the people are ahead of where political parties, certainly ahead of the DUP on this issue of the rule of law and needing to punish politically and use the the toolbox that they have to deal with Michelle O’Neill.

“The people are way ahead and I’m listening to the people … they want to see action. They don’t want to see this sitting in the middle of the road, not actually dealing with something.

“I want to show the unionist community that I am there. I will stand with them, and not just in word. I’ll actually follow through with actions.”

Ms Lockhart claimed Drumcree has “united unionism”.

“There’s a fire lit within unionism, and it’s now for the political parties to actually recognise that and grasp it with both hands,” she added.

Ms Lockhart also rejected any claim that anyone is “pulling her strings”.

“It is demeaning and I will not stand for it,” she said.

“Women in public life can have their principles and their opinions. It does not mean that there is a man pulling their strings in the background, and I want to be very clear. I will not have it said that someone is pulling my strings.”

Meanwhile Ms Lockhart said while she respects TUV leader Jim Allister, she does not intend to join his party, and plans to be an independent unionist.

“I look forward to working with Jim as an independent, I am confident in the position that I am in, that as an independent unionist MP, I can make a difference,” she added.