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DUP lose patience with outspoken Ruth Patterson

Outspoken Belfast councillor Ruth Patterson has been expelled from the DUP
Outspoken Belfast councillor Ruth Patterson has been expelled from the DUP Outspoken Belfast councillor Ruth Patterson has been expelled from the DUP

OUTSPOKEN Belfast councillor Ruth Patterson has said she stands over her criticism of the DUP after being expelled from the party for bringing it into disrepute.

The former UDR member was told of the party officers' decision ahead of DUP's conference at the weekend.

Ms Patterson was yesterday said to be weighing up her options though it is believed she has no immediate plans to defect to another party, having been linked recently with both the TUV and Ukip.

It is understood the DUP leadership lost patience with the former Belfast deputy mayor on the back of recent remarks about the co-option of Emma Pengelly in South Belfast, following the retirement of Jimmy Spratt.

Speaking to the BBC this morning Ms Patterson said "a weight has been lifted" and that she bore "no ill will to Peter Robinson or the party that I have loved for 20 years".

She said she would continue as an independent councillor in Belfast City Council and would not join another party.

"I have always said that if I leave the DUP I will not be going anywhere else," she added.

"I will be an independent unionist until I decide to stand down."

Last month she told The Irish News she was "shocked and surprised" by the co-option of Peter Robinson's former special adviser, given she "had no affiliation with the constituency".

"The 3,800 votes at the last election speaks volumes and I'd certainly thought about succeeding Jimmy because it seemed like a natural progression," she said.

She has since made public remarks about the possibility of defecting to another party.

The 59-year-old was prosecuted in 2013 over remarks she made online about an imagined republican parade. One DUP source said the party had stood by Ms Patterson during the court case and some members helped pay her legal costs but they felt her comments about the possibility of joining Jim Allister's TUV "went too far".

"Any party would take action after that kind of comment," the source said.