The Northern Ireland Unionist Party today confirmed that its deputy leader Mr Patrick Roche is to stand down from the Assembly at the next Stormont election.
The former economics lecturer, who formed the anti-Belfast Agreement party after a split from Mr Robert McCartney's UK Unionists in January 1999, said he was not going to seek re-election because of a "family illness".
Announcing his decision, the Lagan Valley MLA said he had been elected to the Assembly in 1998 "on a manifest of commitment to defend the Union against the implementation of the Belfast Agreement.
"I and my NIUP colleagues at Stormont have sustained a principled opposition to the Agreement.
"My extensive publications also amount to a formidable articulation of unionism and an exposure of the intellectual and moral bankruptcy of Irish nationalism.
"My decision not to contest the next Assembly election has been taken with regret. It has been a great privilege to represent Lagan Valley in the Assembly."
Mr Roche was elected to the Assembly as a member of Robert McCartney's UK Unionist Party.
PA