Northern Ireland

DUP suffers another resignation

Newly elected DUP leader Edwin Poots. Picture by Hugh Russell
Newly elected DUP leader Edwin Poots. Picture by Hugh Russell Newly elected DUP leader Edwin Poots. Picture by Hugh Russell

THE DUP has suffered another resignation from the party after an army veteran turned councillor stepped down, branding the treatment of Arlene Foster as "disgraceful".

Ryan McCready, a Derry and Strabane district councillor, also said the party's leadership was "incompatible" with his own beliefs.

It comes just days after councillors Glyn Hanna and Kathryn Owen resigned, along with former DUP Westminster candidate Diane Forsythe, claiming there had been a purge of Sir Jeffrey Donaldson's supporters.

William Walker, the sole remaining DUP councillor on Newry, Mourne and Down district council has also said he is "seriously considering" his future in the party.

Mr McCready, who joined the DUP in 2018, said he had supported Sir Jeffrey for the leadership adding that he sees the "politics of the Poots’ leadership as regressive, and I’m uncomfortable with that".

"I don’t like the direction party headquarters are taking or how leadership elements have conducted themselves recently," he told the Belfast Telegraph.

"It’s incompatible with my own beliefs and approach.

"When I watched Ian Paisley chant ‘Robin Swann is very dangerous’ with Van Morrison, it reaffirmed my decision to leave. I have also felt the new DUP leadership’s tone has been wrong.

"It’s reminiscent of an eve of battle rousing of soldiers rather than what is needed to try to unite the party."

Mr McCready, who served with the Royal Irish Regiment in Iraq, Afghanistan, and south Armagh and was named the UK’s Most Outstanding Soldier in 2011, said he found the treatment of Mrs Foster "disgraceful, disrespectful and unacceptable".

"I thought ‘if that’s how the DUP treats people, I don’t want to be part of it any longer'," he said.

"I don’t know Arlene personally - I’ve only met her a handful of times briefly - but it was a matter of principle for me."

He added that when he revealed his intention to leave the party last week, Mr Poots had phoned him, but "nothing that was said during the conversation led me to change my mind".