Former Ulster Unionist leader Mr Harry West has died. He was 86, and had been in deteriorating health. He had been an MP for Co Fermanagh, and a former minister for agriculture in the old Stormont.
Mr West took over the leadership of a divided unionist party in 1974. He won the leadership in the political turmoil following the Ulster Workers Strike which brought down the Sunningdale power-sharing executive.
Ulster Unionist chairman Mr James Cooper, a nephew of Mr West, said last night the former leader was unstinting in his commitment to political progress. He told the BBC: "He was well regarded as a traditional unionist, who represented not only his constituency but the whole of Northern Ireland at one of the most difficult times in recent history."
UUP leader Mr David Trimble said Mr West worked tirelessly for his constituents and his party. "He was a person who worked tirelessly for folk in Fermanagh, his own constituents, but also for the party as a whole."