Dodds - the logic of the highwayman!

Leader of the Ulster Unionist Party sir Reg Empey has responded to comments made by Nigel Dodds asking, 'how disingenuous can he get?#39;

"Talking about the Fermanagh and South Tyrone constituency in 2001, Nigel Dodds said that I claimed it was the DUP's intervention which saw the seat lost to SF - as a matter of fact the DUP did not contest the seat in the 2001 Westminster election. How utterly misleading and disingenuous."

"The DUP supported an independent Unionist candidate (Mr Dixon) in that by-election - a candidate who said he would rather see the seat go to Sinn Fein rather than the Ulster Unionists. Mr Dixon won 13.5% of the vote and we lost the seat by 57 stolen votes - this is fact.

"Having sabotaged that Ulster Unionist seat, they repeated the process in 2005 by fielding a candidate in South Belfast, a seat which the UUP was defending. What political party is going to give away a seat it already holds"

"Nigel's party split Unionism in 1970 when it was formed on the basis of what it considered upholding traditional unionist policies. It appears to have abandoned those policies and is now quite happy to share power with Sinn Fein having promised their electorate not to do so."

"This real damage to unionism was recognised at the European election - this is what the DUP is being punished for by the electorate."