Tories stand by Unionists in pledge

The party has formed an electoral pact in the region with the Ulster Unionist Party and won a European Parliament seat in the joint ticket's first electoral outing in June.

On Wednesday both parties confirmed plans to select joint General Election candidates to stand across Northern Ireland.

In a joint statement the parties said: "Those candidates who are successfully elected will, as David Cameron has said, take the Conservative whip with the full rights and responsibilities of any other Conservative MP.

"If the Conservatives win the next General Election, they will be eligible to become members of the Government itself."

They said their parties will compile separate lists of election hopefuls, before an agreed panel of preferred candidates is selected by a joint committee of the Conservative and Ulster Unionist parties.

The parties fought the European election together in June in Northern Ireland and long-standing Ulster Unionist MEP Jim Nicholson held his seat when he stood on the joint ticket.

The Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) has criticised the political pact that led to the formation of the 'Ulster Conservatives and Unionists - New Force' (UCUNF), which is the banner the Tories and UUP fight under in Northern Ireland.

The DUP said UCUNF plans to fight each constituency in Northern Ireland will split the unionist vote in marginal seats to the benefit of nationalist and republican parties.

The Ulster Unionists dismissed the criticisms and said the DUP had throughout its history fuelled divisions in unionism.

In March the new political venture also suffered the resignation of one of its architects, leading Northern Ireland Conservative Jeffrey Peel, who launched a strong attack on the Ulster Unionists.

He claimed UUP members had failed to agree to a name and logo that would drop baggage, such as the tag 'Ulster', to reach outside unionist ranks and appeal to voters across the sectarian divide.

But on Wednesday the Conservatives and Ulster Unionists said they hoped to secure major public support by flagging-up the potential for a Northern Ireland MP to get a post in the next cabinet.

"Bringing Northern Ireland into the mainstream of national and international politics has been one of the key goals of this joint project to date," they said.

"We must now push on from the success of the European campaign to ensure that this goal is reached.

"For the first time in generations people in Northern Ireland will be given the opportunity to vote for candidates drawn from both parties who will play a full role in determining their next national government."