TUV conference: Jim Allister announces partnership with Reform UK

Traditional Unionist Voice (TUV) leader Jim Allister has announced a formal "partnership" with Reform UK in the upcoming general election.

He made the announcement as Reform UK leader Richard Tice attended the TUV's annual conference in County Antrim.

The two leaders signed a "memorandum of understanding" at the conference.

And the parties will later announce "agreed candidates" for constituencies in Northern Ireland in the forthcoming Westminster election.

During his speech to party members Mr Allister said the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) had "no mandate" for its return to Stormont.

Mr Allister said the UK is "being dismantled" as a result of post-Brexit trade rules for NI.

The conference comes six weeks after devolved government was restored when the DUP ended its two-year boycott.

The Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), Stormont's largest unionist political party, had been protesting against trading arrangements under the Northern Ireland Protocol and Windsor Framework.

But the party agreed to revive the power-sharing institutions after securing a deal with the UK government aimed at addressing unionist concerns.

Mr Allister, whose party has strongly opposed the DUP's decision, said that the "leverage to force change" has been "surrendered".

The assembly member for North Antrim told TUV members that "having fought not one but two elections on rejection of the protocol, the DUP has no mandate for its return to Stormont".

Mr Allister, the TUV's sole MLA in the Stormont assembly, argued there "ought to have been a fresh assembly election", but the DUP's "acceptance of the Irish Sea border" will come under scrutiny at the next general election.

Speaking at the conference, Reform UK leader Richard Tice outlined his party's priorities including healthcare, immigration and defence.

Concluding his speech, he said: "I believe in the United Kingdom.

"I believe with the right leadership we can truly make the United Kingdom great again."

The TUV conference also heard from Reform UK deputy leader Ben Habib, a former Brexit Party MEP.

Mr Habib told the conference the DUP had "completely lost my support" and that he was now "firmly hitched at the hip" with Mr Allister.

Earlier this week former Conservative Party deputy chairman Lee Anderson defected to Reform UK, becoming the party's first ever MP.

Mr Anderson was suspended from the Conservative Party after refusing to apologise for claiming Islamists had "control" of London mayor Sadiq Khan.

Mr Allister has previously welcomed "building a relationship" between TUV and Reform UK.

The TUV's vote share increased in the last Stormont election in 2022 but it did not result in additional seats, with Mr Allister again returned as the party's only assembly member.