SIR REG Empey is formally to stand down as leader of the Ulster Unionists next week, leading to a leadership election next month.
The announcement has sparked fresh exchanges on the question of unionist unity between the Ulster Unionists and the DUP.
Sir Reg announced his intention to resign the leadership last May in the wake of a poor Westminster election showing. He was beaten in South Antrim by sitting DUP MP William McCrea while his colleagues failed to win any House of Commons seats for the first time in a century.
Announcing his intention to go, Sir Reg called on DUP leader Peter Robinson also to consider quitting in order to help unionism consider a fresh approach.
“If I can put myself in this position having failed to win a seat I’d never held, perhaps somebody who held their seat but lost it might think about his position.” The DUP responded yesterday to Sir Reg’s announcement by criticising him as an obstacle to unionist unity and calling for the search for greater co-operation to “step up a gear”.
DUP Assembly member Simon Hamilton said: “The DUP, from the leader down, is in the business of bringing unionism together and binding up the wounds of the past. It is our hope that whoever assumes the leadership of the UUP will heed the earnest desire of the pro-union community for co-operation within the unionist family in a way Reg Empey never would.” Sir Reg’s departure has been brought forward to facilitate the seeking of nominations in advance of the leadership election. He is abroad at present and may even miss next month’s election as he is scheduled to visit the US.
Candidates require 35 signatures from a spread of constituencies to enable them to stand.
The election for the post will mostly likely be held on Wednesday, September 22nd, at Belfast’s Waterfront Hall.
Roundly criticised over the decision to contest the election under the banner of the Ulster Conservatives and Unionists New Force, the party lost its sole MP, Lady Sylvia Hermon, who quit in opposition to the move.
Running as an Independent, Lady Sylvia successfully defended her Westminster seat in the May 6th poll with an increased majority. Her close North Down colleague Alan McFarland, beaten to the leadership by Sir Reg in 2005 after the resignation of David, now Lord Trimble, also resigned as an Assembly member and he now sits at Stormont as an Independent.
The Conservatives and the Ulster Unionists have said that while the close relationship between their two parties remains, they will not contest next May’s Assembly poll on the joint platform used for the Westminster elections.
Only one of Sir Reg’s Assembly colleagues has so far announced his intention to seek the leadership, but a second announcement is expected soon.
Fermanagh Assembly member Tom Elliott has formally declared he will stand for election, but it is expected that Lagan Valley Assembly man Basil McCrea will also join the leadership battle.
Rodney Connor, a former chief executive of Fermanagh District Council, was chosen but he lost to sitting Sinn Féin MP and Agriculture Minister Michelle Gildernew by just four votes.
That result is being formally challenged by Mr Connor.
Mr McCrea is understood to have delayed announcing his candidacy because of the summer holidays and is keen to create a sense of momentum by announcing closer to the election date. In contrast to his likely opponent, he is not a member of the loyal orders and is vocally opposed to closer co-operation with the DUP. He regards himself as more liberal than Mr Elliott and is understood to be planning a campaign on the basis of these and other key differences with Mr Elliott.
Some likely contenders have ruled themselves out.
These include the current deputy leader Danny Kennedy and the party’s long-standing MEP Jim Nicholson.