LADY Sylvia Hermon has yet to confirm whether she will contest the forthcoming Westminster election as speculation mounts that her former party's pledge to stand in every constituency could jeopardise her North Down seat.
The Ulster Unionist Party has stood aside in North Down since Lady Hermon resigned from the party in 2009 over its formal links with the Conservative Party.
But whereas the sitting MP's majority in 2010 was more than 14,000, in the 2017 general election her margin of victory over the DUP's Alex Easton was just 1,208.
It has been speculated that if the UUP contest the seat it could see the vote split further with Lady Hermon's tally sufficiently reduced to allow the DUP to snatch victory.
UUP leader-in-waiting Steve Aiken has ruled out electoral pacts with DUP and insisted that his party will stand candidates in each of Northern Ireland's 18 constituencies.
In addition to North Down, the last Westminster election saw the UUP stand aside in North Belfast, West Belfast and Foyle, while the DUP did not contest the tightly-run Fermanagh South Tyrone contest where Sinn Féin narrowly beat the UUP by fewer than 1,000 votes.
DUP leader Arlene Foster accused the new UUP leader of being willing to "hand seats to Sinn Féin" by ruling out electoral pacts.
Mr Aiken was unavailable for comment yesterday but according to commentator Brian Feeney, the new UUP leader will be forced to reverse his no-pacts pledge.
He said the South Antrim MLA, who is expected to officially assume the leader's role unchallenged on November 9, was "inexperienced in politics and an inexperienced party leader".
"If he doesn't do a U-turn on his no-pacts policy, the party will not let him get away with it," the Irish News columnist said.
"In North Belfast for instance, a UUP candidate would be humiliated and at the same time Sinn Féin could take the seat – the sectarian imperative will always reign supreme."
Mr Feeney said there would likely be a "tacit agreement on the crucial seats" with the DUP rather than a formal pact.
He described Mr Aiken's strategy as "un-thought out".
"He's decided to attack the DUP in a bid to woo back those voters who've defected in droves to Alliance but attacking the DUP didn't work for Mike Nesbitt, who lost seats and his job as a result," he said.
The Irish News columnist said Mr Aiken's strategy could "damage" Lady Hermon's prospects in North Down but believed she would still win.
"North Down is an overwhelmingly Remain constituency and Brexit has done a great deal of damage to the DUP there," he said.
