Ex-UKIP member brands McNarry '˜plank' following Brexit border comment

Dave Malcolm, left, with Neil Hamilton, Vice Chair, United Kingdom Independence Party (centre), fellow UKIP candidates Kyle Thompson and Geoff Cruickshank, and Brian Higginson, Regional Organiser, UKIP Northern Ireland, in 2014.

Dave Malcolm, who left the party in 2014, shortly after polling 224 of UKIP’s 696 first preferences in the Derry City and Strabane District Council election of 2014, was reacting to comments made by Mr McNarry in an English newspaper.

The former Strangford MLA had written: “Cameron must deploy soldiers to the Irish border to prepare for a Leave victory in the June 23 EU referendum.”

He added: “It’s a hell of a job to ask anybody to do but if you leave it then it’s wide open for migration, for the clever traffickers, for the criminals. They need to see that we’re here and we’ll do everything we can to stop people who wish us harm crossing the border.”

But posting via his social media profile, Mr Malcolm stated: “McNarry is a total plank! There is no need to reintroduce troops to the Border or anywhere else in NI - the bilateral agreement between the Garda and PSNI works perfectly well and as it’s bilateral, our membership of the EU is not needed for it to continue!

“McNarry should shut up on the Brexit issue. He has taken UKIP in NI which was a grass roots political movement and changed it into a 2003 version of the UUP which is about as relevant as the EU in today’s Global world.”