Carla Lockhart resigns as DUP party officer amid rift with leader over Stormont's future

DUP MP Carla Lockhart has resigned as a party officer amid a deepening row with leader Gavin Robinson over the future of Stormont, a move first reported by the Belfast Telegraph on 22 October.

The disagreement centres on whether the DUP should withdraw deputy First Minister Emma Little-Pengelly from the powersharing Executive — a step the Upper Bann MP backs because it would automatically remove Sinn Féin First Minister Michelle O’Neill from the joint office they lead together. Lockhart believes the party can no longer serve alongside O’Neill after the Sinn Féin vice president took part in an allegedly unlawful protest on the Garvaghy Road in Portadown last month.

O’Neill attended a police station in Belfast on Wednesday for an arranged interview with officers investigating the unnotified protest, which was staged to stop an Orange Order parade proceeding down the nationalist road from nearby Drumcree Church. Sinn Féin president Mary Lou McDonald was also interviewed at Musgrave PSNI station.

Lockhart told BBC Radio Ulster’s Nolan Show she had not intended to make her resignation public, saying someone within the DUP leaked it. She had served on the party’s small decision-making body for five years. Asked whether she had confidence in Robinson’s leadership, she replied: “I have confidence that the unionist people want action.”

Robinson, appearing on BBC NI’s The View on Thursday evening, said: “I’m sorry to see that it’s occurred,” adding, “She remains a key part of our team.” He said the party had reached an “agreed position” not to pull Little-Pengelly out of the Executive, and on whether Lockhart might quit the party entirely, said: “I hope that’s not the case.”

Sources: The Oldham Times, Brit Brief, ballymoney.buzz, Dungannon Now.