Democratic Unionist Party MEP Jim Allister has today hit back at Michael McGimpsey, claiming his assertions regarding the DUP are “ill-founded, ill-informed and simply untrue”. Mr Allister hit back after McGimpsey claimed the DUP had broken its promises in regard to concessions delivered to republicans.

Jim Allister said, “Michael McGimpsey must think that the unionist community are as foolish and gullible as himself. They are not and they will not be fooled by the hollow grandstanding of a man who sat down round an Executive table with Martin McGuinness. Michael and his party have still got to come clean on the nature of their grubby little deal hatched before the last election to the Northern Ireland Assembly.

For some strange reason Michael and his party don’t seem to want to tell the community what they signed up to with Sinn Fein/IRA prior to that election. I wonder why? Could it be that they signed up to more concessions, more humiliation for the unionist community and more victories for the Provo’s over issues such as on-the-run murderers and troop reduction. Rather than attempting to blame the DUP for these things, Michael should have the decency to come clean and admit the nature of the deal signed up to by him and his party.

The DUP is committed to attaining a better deal for our community. We will not be taking the fall for the incompetence and deceit of the Ulster Unionist Party who have inflicted so much damage over recent years. Michael McGimpsey’s party promised that the RUC had been saved. They lied and the RUC was destroyed. Michael McGimpsey’s party assured us all that no Executive would be formed without total decommissioning of terrorist weaponry. They lied and formed a government with the IRA’s mouthpieces.

The people will therefore find it a bit rich for Mr McGimpsey to accuse anyone of breaking their promises. There is a difference between the DUP and the UUP. We keep our word, they don’t”.