Carla Lockhart ready to quit the DUP - after Gavin Robinson stops short of her demand to remove Michelle O'Neill as First Minister

Carla Lockhart has written to colleagues saying that she cannot be party to any attempt to “carve out some clever half-way house” and “gaslight those who have trusted us”.

Party leader Gavin Robinson said said there has to be accountability, but not at the expense of the Stormont budget – and confirmed that the deputy First Minister Emma Little-Pengelly is to cease participating in joint engagements with Ms O’Neill.

The pledge falls short of what the Upper Bann MP has requested, making her resignation from the party appear inevitable.

Carla Lockhart’s letter was posted online minutes after the deputy First Minister announced that she had blocked Michelle O’Neill from attending a UK economic summit in Glasgow, by withdrawing herself.

Such a move had been mooted as an option for the party to show its anger at Ms O’Neill’s actions on the Garvaghy Road, avoiding collapsing the joint executive office.

Emma Little Pengelly said she had cancelled the engagement “given the seriousness of the circumstances surrounding Michelle O’Neill’s recent reckless conduct, and the damage it has done to the operation of our joint office”.

The Sinn Féin First Minister branded the action “a reactive stunt, driven by the DUP's own internal pressures and electoral problems”.

The developments come amid growing unease in the DUP about how the party is handling its response to the involvement of Sinn Féin politicians in blocking the Garvaghy Road.

Ms Lockhart has received backing from MLAs Diane Forsythe, a party officer, and Maurice Bradley. The Upper Bann MP recently quit the party officers board, with many of the view that her exit from the party is on the way.

In a scathing letter to colleagues, Ms Lockhart said her disagreement with leader Gavin Robinson “is a matter of legitimate principled disagreement and is not personal in any way”.

However, she slammed her treatment within the party, claiming that she had been unfairly dismissed when raising concerns over Drumcree.

“I tried to make my case internally, just like with the Safeguarding the Union deal, but I regret to say that I feel these concerns were simply shouted down or dismissed.

“In some instances, even worse I was accused, in effect, of being a puppet for others outside the party. Having been in front line politics for 20 years this year and as a woman in public life, I make my own decisions.

“There is no one, much less any man, who pulls my strings. I stand on my own two feet and will continue to do so”, she said.

The Upper Bann MP said she had been “honest about the limitations of the political consequences we can deliver”.

“I wish we could remove every single one of the Sinn Fein lawbreakers, both Ministers and MLAs, but we legally cannot do so.

“But we can remove Michelle O'Neill.

“In my view for too long this party has tried to smudge the lines, and on occasions (such as with the Irish Sea border), actively misled those who trust us.

“To my shame, I publicly for the most part said nothing, and went along with it. But I am not prepared to do it anymore, and nor should anyone else”, she said.

Gavin Robinson announced his plan to hold First Minister Michelle O’Neill to account when speaking to the media at Parliament Buildings flanked by deputy First Minister Emma Little-Pengelly and MLAs.

“This morning the officers of the Democratic Unionist Party met and unanimously reaffirmed the position that was agreed last week, and this afternoon I have spent time with my Assembly colleagues who unanimously endorsed our party’s position,” he said.

“The First Minister needs to be held accountable for her actions and for her recklessness. We believe that while she and her colleagues should be punished, that does not include punishing the rest of Northern Ireland, the foundation of democratic principles that hold society together.

“There has to be accountability but not at the expense of public sector pay or a budget that is there to provide basic and decent public services for the rest of the people of Northern Ireland.

“My colleagues and I have been clear that there is a gap in political accountability in these institutions, it is intolerable that those accused of breaking the law in political terms become their own judge.

“That is why we have engaged with the Secretary of State and he has agreed should legislation be required he will fulfil it, that there needs to be political consequence and sanction for those who break the law and not the general public.

“I have no doubt that will take time. I have no doubt that that will test patience, same with the Public Prosecution Service and the slow pace with which they proceed, but in the interim I can be clear that the First Minister will not have the support of Emma Little-Pengelly or our party to continue as if things were the same.”