Ulster Unionist Party vice chairman Mr James Cooper today declared he will seek the nomination to contest the Fermanagh and South Tyrone seat in the next British general election.
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| Ken Maginnis's Westminster seat will be hotly contested |
Mr Cooper, a supporter Mr David Trimble and election agent of the outgoing MP Mr Ken Maginnis, said he was standing at a "critical time in the peace process" which required the SDLP and Sinn Fein to be more flexible.
His decision to stand came hours after anti-Agreement unionist Ms Arlene Foster declared her intention to seek the nomination to contest the Westminster seat following Mr Maginnis's decision to retire.
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Mr Cooper, who is a solicitor in the same legal practise in Enniskillen as Ms Foster, argued today: "I believe this to be a critical time in the peace process for the Ulster Unionist Party given the abject refusal by IRA-Sinn Fein to constructively address the fundamental issue of decommissioning and also the entirely unreasonable attitude of the SDLP towards their participation in the reform of the RUC."
Earlier, Enniskillen solicitor Ms Arlene Foster, who is a close ally of anti-Agreement MP Mr Jeffrey Donaldson, said she would be trying to unite various strands of Ulster Unionist opinion.
Ms Foster, who is daughter-in-law of Stormont Environment Minister and Trimble supporter, Mr Sam Foster, claimed there has been "a bias" towards republicanism and nationalism ever since the Belfast Agreement was signed two and a half years ago.
PA