The British election will give unionists their opportunity to "take revenge" on the Belfast Agreement, according to the leader of the Northern Ireland Unionist Party. Speaking at his party's manifesto launch, Mr Cedric Wilson said that although it was only running two candidates, the NIUP was the only party to offer authentic opposition to the Belfast Agreement.
Mr Wilson said the unionist people had been "duped" into accepting the agreement. In a process "assisted, abetted and underwritten by David Trimble and the UUP", the agreement had brought nothing but "disgraceful concessions to republicans", he said.
Mr Wilson and Mr Norman Boyd are standing in Strangford and South Antrim respectively. Both these seats are already being strongly contested by the DUP and UUP, but Mr Wilson was unapologetic about the prospect of taking votes from the DUP and perhaps causing them to lose the elections.
Mr Wilson said the DUP had appointed ministers to the Executive and members to Assembly committees and had even said it would appoint members to the new Northern Ireland Police Board, contrary to its pledges to oppose the agreement. Despite all its rhetoric, the DUP was "indistinguishable from the Ulster Unionist Party", he said.
The NIUP has eight local election candidates standing in Newtownabbey, Ballymena, North Down, Banbridge, Lisburn and Antrim borough councils.