UKIP NI councillor Henry Reilly remains UKIP councillor despite suspension from internal party activities for 3 months

UKIP's first councillor in Northern Ireland, Henry Reilly, has been suspended from internal party activities for 3 months over a spat with the party's leader in NI, David McNarry MLA.

Reilly is an extremely popular councillor in Northern Ireland both in UKIP and the wider unionist community but he and McNarry haven't seen eye to eye for some time. The current disagreement seems to revolve around Reilly being prevented from appointing spokesmen for the NI party and the subsequent publicising of his suspension by McNarry following which Reilly accused him of bringing the party into disrepute.

As we understand it, Cllr Reilly remains a full and active member of UKIP and continues to sit as a UKIP councillor but is currently prevented from taking part in internal party matters whilst head office try to make some sense of what is happening over there.

Belfast UUP councillor defects to UKIP

The former Lord Mayor of Belfast, Cllr Bob Stoker, has defected from the Ulster Unionist Party to UKIP.

UKIP Northern Ireland chairman, David McNarry MLA and Deputy Chairman of the national party, Paul Nuttall, welcomed Bob to the party in Belfast yesterday.

UKIP gains first Northern Irish MLA

Former Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) MLA, David McNarry, has joined UKIP and will sit in the Northern Irish Assembly as a UKIP MLA.

McNarry is the party's first member of one of the devolved governments and second elected representative in Northern Ireland after Cllr Henry Reilly was elected on a UKIP ticket in May last year.

McNarry was elected as a UUP MLA in 2003 but resigned the whip after being sacked as Vice Chair of the Assembly Education Committee at the start of the year by the UUP's previous leader.

UKIP is the only UK party to have elected representatives in all four home nations.