The DUP was accused of "triumphalism" and "cynical" publicity seeking when a large crowd gathered in Lisburn Orange Hall last night to welcome former Ulster Unionists Mr Jeffrey Donaldson, Ms Arlene Foster and Ms Norah Beare to the DUP.
The Lagan Valley MP Mr Donaldson said that since he and Ms Beare and Ms Foster joined the Rev Ian Paisley's party over 100 active Ulster Unionist members of the constituency association had resigned from the UUP and were signing up to the DUP.
Lisburn MLA, Mr Billy Bell, who has remained loyal to the UUP, said that since the defections 63 people had applied to join his party in Lagan Valley. Mr Bell described last night's meeting as yet another cynical attempt to extract more publicity from the defections. "Frankly most people in the Ulster Unionist Party are bored and disinterested in the comments of our former members," he said.
"The Ulster Unionist Party has moved on. We would urge them to do the same. The repeated attempts at destabilising the party by stage-managing the limited number of defections from Lagan Valley comes as no surprise," added Mr Bell.
Meanwhile, the Ulster Unionist MEP Mr Jim Nicholson accused the British Prime Minister, Mr Tony Blair, of contributing to the "destruction" of the Good Friday agreement.
He told a UUP meeting in west Tyrone that he had no confidence in either the British or Irish governments ensuring that the concerns of the unionist community were met.
