The PUP Assembly member, Mr Billy Hutchinson, has announced he will stand aside in the contest for the North Belfast Westminster seat due to fears his candidacy could split the unionist vote. However, the pro-agreement loyalist representative, whose party is linked to the Ulster Volunteer Force, refused to specify whether PUP supporters should vote for Mr Cecil Walker of the UUP or the anti-agreement Mr Nigel Dodds of the DUP.
He said PUP voters, who delivered 3,700 first preference votes to him in the 1998 Assembly elections, should support the candidate they felt would best serve them.