DUP leader 'very sorry' Carla Lockhart has quit the party

Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) leader Gavin Robinson has said he is "very sorry" that MP Carla Lockhart has quit the party.

Robinson said he would not be criticising the Upper Bann MP, who left the party on Monday over its response to the Drumcree parading dispute, and expressed hope they would continue to work together in the future.

Lockhart had been calling for the DUP to withdraw Stormont's deputy first minister to force Sinn Féin First Minister Michelle O'Neill from their joint office.

Speaking on Tuesday, Robinson said the disagreement was over strategy not sentiment.

O'Neill and several other senior Sinn Féin figures have been interviewed by police investigating the Garvaghy Road demonstrations, with unionists accusing the party of acting unlawfully.

Last week the DUP, which shares power with Sinn Féin in Northern Ireland's devolved government, announced it would block official engagements involving O'Neill in response to the fall-out.

But Robinson stopped short of Lockhart's call to force O'Neill from office.

Speaking on the Good Morning Ulster programme he said: "We share exactly the same sentiment - all of us are angered, all of us believe the position of Michelle O'Neill and her willingness to break the law, to ignore the courts, to breach her pledge of office requires sanction.

"So while we share the same sentiment, we have not been in agreement when it comes to how you deal with it.

"The Democratic Unionist Party is firmly of the view that it is Michelle O'Neill who should face the consequences of her actions, not the rest of the people of Northern Ireland.

"Northern Ireland needs a functioning government, Northern Ireland needs a budget - those important discussions will continue on Thursday I believe with the secretary of state."

Robinson said he believes "there is a role for this government to come forward with a sanctions regime that will punish those who break the pledge of office".

O'Neill, the Sinn Féin vice-president, has defended her involvement in the Drumcree protests, saying it was the "right thing to do".

In an open letter to colleagues last week, Lockhart said forcing O'Neill from office was the "only one credible option" and any kind of "graduated response" would be "insulting to those who have trusted us".

In a statement posted on her Facebook page on Monday, the MP said: "My first responsibility remains to the people of Upper Bann.

"You placed your trust in me, and I will continue to work every bit as hard for you, your family and our community."

Lockhart said she was leaving the DUP on a "point of principle" and would continue in the House of Commons as an independent unionist.

"I cannot stand idly by whilst Sinn Féin wilfully ignores the rule of law and the promised profound consequences fail to materialise," she added.

Lockhart concluded that she would "look forward to working with all shades of unionism, elected or not, to advance the cause we love".

The DUP MP for East Londonderry Gregory Campbell said Lockhart's resignation had come as no surprise and could prove a "pivotal moment" for the wider unionist family.

"Do we advance the cause of unionism by fracturing or closing ranks and uniting and trying to get people together to say 'what is the best way forward, what's the best way to set out a strategy what will maximise the pro-union voice?'," he told BBC Radio Foyle's North West Today programme.

"Fracturing only assists those who are the enemies of unionism, uniting will thwart the enemies of unionism and that's what we need to do and I think that realisation is going to come home now in the next few weeks."

Speaking on the Good Morning Ulster programme on Tuesday, Traditional Unionist Voice leader Jim Allister said the DUP had "preferred to keep Michelle O'Neill and let Carla Lockhart go" and that would "hang over them and haunt them for some time to come".

He added: "I have both publicly and privately made it very plain that Carla would be very welcome in the TUV, but I understand Carla's position.

"When you've been in a party as she has and indeed as I was for 20 years and then you leave it, it's quite a step."