A TUV spokesperson said:
“Colum Eastwood’s leadership saw an increasing greening of the SDLP and Unionists will never forget that he infamously carried the coffin of an INLA terrorist.
“His leadership will be remembered by TUV members and supporters as marking the tipping point where we overtook the SDLP to become the fifth biggest party as demonstrated in recent polling. Significantly, the results of the Westminster election showed that by some measures TUV outperformed the SDLP – TUV candidates outpolled the SDLP in 6 of the 14 seats we contested and the SDLP lost 10 deposits while TUV only lost 3. The end of Mr Eastwood’s tenure as SDLP leader should also mark the moment at which the media dropped the pretence that there are “five main parties”.”