Sinn Fein to stand aside in three constituencies, to prevent DUP winning seats in December election

By PA reporter

Sinn Fein has announced it will not stand in three constituencies in Northern Ireland in a bid to prevent DUP MPs winning the seats.

The party will stand aside in South Belfast, East Belfast and North Down.

Sinn Fein President Mary Lou McDonald urged supporters to instead back the SDLP, the Alliance Party and independent unionist Lady Sylvia Hermon respectively in those three seats.

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Announcing the move, Ms McDonald said: "In many ways this is a once-in-a-generation election, the stakes are very high in this election.

"People have a fundamental choice to make - to vote for a positive, inclusive future or to turn their backs on that and to back candidates who have been the architects of Brexit and who have acted very, very deliberately against the democratic wishes of people here in the north and more fundamentally against the economic and social interests of citizens who live here."

She added: "You can call this a pact, you can call it what you wish - the reality is we are asking people to come out and vote for those pro-Remain candidates. We believe that is the right and progressive thing to do."

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Ms McDonald said it sat comfortably with her to urge Sinn Fein supporters to vote for a unionist in the form of Lady Sylvia Hermon.

"It sits very comfortably with me to ask and invite voters to thoughtfully do the right thing," she said.

"And in this case it means defying hard Brexiteers, the likes of Nigel Dodds, the likes of the DUP candidates who have very, very recklessly acted against the interests of everybody.

"Whether you call yourself a unionist or a nationalist, a republican or a loyalist, we actually have many, many interests in common."