Tributes follow death of former UUP leader David Trimble

Mr Beattie said: “Tonight’s news will cause deep sadness throughout Northern Ireland and much further afield.

“David Trimble was a man of courage and vision. He chose to grasp the opportunity for peace when it presented itself and sought to end the decades of violence that blighted his beloved Northern Ireland.

“He will forever be associated with the leadership he demonstrated in the negotiations that led up to the 1998 Belfast Agreement.”

Mr Beattie added: “The bravery and courage he demonstrated whilst battling his recent illness was typical of the qualities he showed in his political career, at Stormont and at Westminster.

“He will be remembered as a First Minister, as a Peer of the Realm and as a Nobel Prize Winner. He will also be remembered as a great unionist.

“On behalf of the Ulster Unionist Party, and with a very heavy heart, I would like to extend my deepest sympathies to his wife Lady Trimble and his children, Richard, Victoria, Sarah and Nicholas.”

In a statement on behalf of the Trimble family, the UUP said: “It is with great sadness that the family of Lord Trimble announce that he passed away peacefully earlier today following a short illness.”

Lord Trimble was jointly won the Nobel Peace Prize along with SDLP leader John Hume

Having distinguished himself in an academic career in the law faculty at the Queen’s University Belfast, he moved into politics and joined the then dominant Ulster Unionist Party in 1978.

His full-time political career began when he was elected as MP for Upper Bann in 1990 following the death of the incumbent Harold McCusker.

Lord Trimble become Northern Ireland’s first ever first first minister on July 1, 1998 alongside SDLP deputy leader Seamus Mallon as deputy first minister.

TUV leader Jim Allister said: “I am greatly saddened to learn of the passing of Lord David Trimble and wish to express to Lady Trimble and the family sincere condolences.

“Though politically we fundamentally disagreed over the Belfast Agreement, latterly as joint applicants in the Judicial Review challenge to the Protocol we shared a common determination to rid Northern Ireland of this iniquitous assault on our constitutional position.

“David had a very clear and correct view of the dangers and unacceptability of the Protocol.

“I have known David and Daphne Trimble since my university days when David was one of my lecturers and Daphne was a fellow student in my law year. As a couple throughout their married life Daphne gave exemplary support to David and in his declining health was a tower of strength to him. So, in losing David, Daphne has suffered a great loss and Northern Ireland has lost a foremost thinker within unionism.”