Tory party election candidate resigns in protest over Northern Ireland Protocol

A Conservative Party candidate in the forthcoming Assembly election has resigned in protest over the Tories’ lack of opposition to the Northern Ireland Protocol.
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Gary Hynds said his decision to leave the Conservatives was also due to “needless local squabbling and bullying.”

Mr Hynds was slated to stand for the Tories in Lagan Valley but now describes the party as a “beaten docket” in the Province.

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He said: “Northern Ireland Conservatives are out of step with their own stated policy which is to abandon the hated Protocol. However, I’ve been heavily criticised for being so outspoken against it, and that doesn’t make any sense at all.

Gary Hynds was slated to stand for the Tories in Lagan ValleyGary Hynds was slated to stand for the Tories in Lagan Valley
Gary Hynds was slated to stand for the Tories in Lagan Valley

“Northern Ireland Conservatives are schizophrenic on what is a fundamental point. Some seem to think you can half oppose and half support it, depending on which constituency you find yourself in.

“They are asking the electorate to buy into a dangerous mixed message. The damage the Protocol is doing has to be recognised. It has undermined Northern Ireland’s place within the Union and needs to be jettisoned.

“The party locally doesn’t see it that way and thinks it can play politics with something that strikes at the very heart of our Britishness.”

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The 36-year-old claimed that attempts to modernise the local Conservatives and turn them into a serious political force had been stoutly rejected by Tory Party Central Office in London.

“The Conservatives are going nowhere here. They are a beaten docket. They have no credibility and in my view are beyond the point of recovery. A barely discernible pulse is all that’s left. The brand is close to being a dead duck,” he said.

Mr Hynds confirmed he would now stand as an independent candidate for Lagan Valley.