UUP's Kennedy slams bogus election letter

Newry and Armagh UUP election candidate Danny Kennedy has hit out at a bogus election letter sent out in his name to voters.

The letter, which copied the official UUP masthead and used a bogus signature from Mr Kennedy, was typed and falsely quoted him as saying that unionism in recent days has been dragged through mud by the actions of the DUP and its leadership with ongoing political and financial scandals.

The bogus letter described the behaviour of DUP leader Arlene Foster and other leading DUP members, including his opponent in the constituency, William Irwin as “appalling”.

The letter ended with a counterfeit appeal to voters “not to use your vote in any way for a party that is destroying unionism”.

However Mr Kennedy firmly rejected the letter and called on voters, via Twitter, to “totally disregard” it, branding it “a disgrace to the democratic process”.

Speaking to the News Letter, he said: “Clearly this was an attempt to sabotage my election campaign and harm my political reputation within unionism.

“We are talking directly to Royal Mail and the Election Office and may yet be bring the matter the police.”

He did not know how many such bogus letters had been sent out.

Unlike regular UUP election communications, the letters were sent out in envelopes, he said.

““This was clearly an attempt to inflict damage within unionism.

“People will know my stance recently, where I urged voters to give their second preference votes to other unionist candidates.

“This is dirty in the extreme and is not just in the political gutter - it is in the political sewer.”

In contrast, Mr Kennedy confirmed that he had sent out a handwritten letter to voters in recent days.

In it he said that the second unionist seat in the area - which is held by him - is “in jeopardy” and that it was therefore “vitally important” that voters gave him their “number one choice” and then vote for “the other unionist candidate”.

DUP election candidate Willie Irwin told the News Letter he had spoken with Mr Kennedy and had “no suspicion that he was in any way involved” in the bogus letter which attacked him.

“To me it was written by someone that wants to damage unionism in the last hours of the election,” Mr Irwin said. “It looks like a real act of desperation by someone.”