Northern Sound has learned that Michelle Gildernew, one of the Sinn Féin European election candidates running in the Midlands North West constituency, will not contest her Westminster seat.
Yesterday, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak shocked many by calling a general election on July 4th. Michelle Gildernew is MP for the Fermanagh South Tyrone since being re-elected in 2017. She held the seat previously from 2001 until 2015 despite Sinn Féin's "abstentionsim" policy which means she and her party colleagues have never taken their seats at Wesminster.
A senior Sinn Féin source told this station that the former MLA and Minister for Agriculture in Northern Ireland will not contest the Westminster elections because "her sole focus will be her European campaign to become an MEP for the Midlands/Northwest constituency."
