Outgoing DUP MLA Jim Wells has declared his support for TUV Assembly election candidate Harold McKee. The councillor is standing for election in South Down, which Mr Wells has represented at Stormont since 1998.
Mr Wells is retiring from politics after being deselected as the DUP candidate for the constituency. He had refused to back Diane Forsythe after she was selected instead by party officers to contest the seat for the DUP.
Mr Wells, who has now quit the DUP, praised Mr McKee as a "politician of conviction, not expediency". He said: "As I leave the Assembly it is my earnest desire that South Down should continue to have a unionist MLA whose politics are grounded in conviction and principle."
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He added: "Among the candidates Harold McKee is the standout candidate with these credentials. He holds dear many of the core principles that I upheld in Stormont and is widely and properly respected as a politician of conviction, not expediency.
"Accordingly, I recommend him to those who faithfully supported me at the polls over the years and urge them to vote McKee 1." Mr McKee quit the UUP last year after saying his Christian beliefs were at odds with Doug Beattie's leadership.
The Newry, Mourne and Down councillor hit out at Mr Beattie's stance on abortion, same-sex marriage and a vote at Stormont on gay conversion therapy. Mr McKee, who in 2016 briefly served as the UUP's South Down MLA, subsequently defected to TUV.
Responding to Mr Wells' endorsement, the TUV candidate said: "Jim has set a high standard for representation in South Down. His decades of faithful service secure his honourable place in the history of this constituency.
"In the end he was abandoned by his own party but it is the mark of the man that he wishes the best for South Down going forward. I am delighted to have his support and gratified that a broad swathe of unionism is uniting behind me as the standard bearer of principled unionism."
TUV leader Jim Allister also welcomed the support of Mr Wells, saying he was "putting principle before party". He said: "At critical times in Stormont Jim Wells was often the only MLA prepared to join me in doing what was right.
"In strengthening Harold McKee's hand he is laying the foundation for the continuance in Stormont of South Down representation based on conviction politics. We've seen enough of synthetic unionism. It's good to offer the real thing with Jim Wells' backing."
Mr Wells had previously endorsed an attempt by the DUP's Edwin Poots to switch from Lagan Valley to contest South Down for the party in May's election. But after Ms Forsythe was selected, Mr Poots later switched to South Belfast to run as a DUP candidate after replacing party MLA Christopher Stalford following his sudden death.
Responding to Mr Wells' decision, the DUP said the election was "much more important than mere personalities". A party spokesman said: "The seat totals after the count will decide whether NI goes in the right or wrong direction and our priorities for the next five years.
"Diane Forsythe secured the DUP's best ever result in South Down in 2017. She is a young mother, rooted in the Mournes with a plan for South Down. Diane will focus on what matters to people."
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