DUP MP Carla Lockhart has resigned as a party officer amid a deepening dispute with leader Gavin Robinson over the party’s response to the Drumcree parading row in Portadown, saying she could not help direct a strategy about which she had “concerns”.
Lockhart said she had not intended to make her resignation public, but that someone within the DUP had leaked the news to the media. She said she had served on the party’s small decision-making body for five years.
The disagreement centres on the Orange Order’s bid to march along the mainly nationalist Garvaghy Road and the political response to the dispute. Lockhart has called for “profound consequences” over Sinn Féin First Minister Michelle O’Neill’s attendance at anti-parade protests, and has urged the DUP to use its powers to remove Deputy First Minister Emma Little-Pengelly from office, a move that would also bring down the Executive.
Robinson has argued against collapsing the power-sharing government, saying that would serve no strategic purpose. He has said it cannot be “business as usual” at Stormont, while seeking accountability over the handling of the parade dispute.
The resignation followed Lockhart’s refusal in a BBC interview to say whether she had confidence in Robinson’s leadership. She said she would continue to represent Upper Bann and make the case for Northern Ireland’s place in the United Kingdom.
Lockhart said she would “not shy away from standing up” for her beliefs, adding that she would speak publicly in her own name. She has not ruled out leaving the DUP, while loyalist hardliners have reportedly urged her to challenge Robinson for the leadership.
