Statement by TUV leader Jim Allister:
“TUV will fight a total of seven seats in the Westminster election.
“The candidates will be: Councillor Timothy Gaston in North Antrim, Councillor Ruth Wilson in East Antrim, party vice-chair Richard Cairns in South Antrim, Councillor Stephen Cooper in Strangford, William Cudworth in North Down, Gareth Ferguson in Mid Ulster and party press officer Samuel Morrison in Lagan Valley.
“With an average age of just 34 these candidates show that TUV is a party which is attracting a new generation of politicians who have rejected the old parties of failure.
“At a time when many are asking what the difference is between the DUP and UUP no one is in any doubt as to the distinctive and principled stand of TUV. We alone stand in uncompromising opposition to Sinn Fein and their destructive anti-British agenda.
“Those who are fed up with the constant pandering to Republicans, the assault our public services while bloated bureaucracy, useless North-South Bodies and Stormont’s army of publicly funded spin doctors remains immune from austerity will find a home with TUV.
“TUV stands in this election as the real alternative offering the electorate the chance to vote for a Unionist party which demands genuine democratic reform of Stormont at a time when devolution across the UK will be a major topic due to the fallout from the Scottish independence referendum.
“We offer people the opportunity to vote for a Unionist party which believes the UK needs to be liberated from the shackles of Brussels and therefore demands an early referendum on EU membership.
“In the aftermath of the OTR scandal and the broken promises of those who said they would resign unless the letters were called in and the names and alleged crimes of recipients published, another expenses scandal, yet more deadlock at Stormont and the failed Stormont House Agreement lying in tatters and the persecution of a Christian owned bakery by way of taxpayers’ money by the OFMdFM funded Equality Commission TUV offers the electorate the opportunity to say enough is enough!
“Unfortunately, on this occasion not every voter in Northern Ireland will have the opportunity to vote TUV, but next year that opportunity will exist in the PR election to Stormont. That will be a key election for TUV.
“TUV is contesting safe Unionist seats where the issue of a split in the Unionist vote does not endanger the seat. In the case of Mid Ulster there is no realistic prospect of a Unionist winning the seat and as the party has performed well there in the past it was decided that we should run again.”