The UK Independence Party's deputy leader Paul Nuttall has confirmed that it intends to contest the NI Assembly elections next year.

Mr Nuttall said the party would fight at least four and as many as seven constituencies.

He said there had already been a fragmentation of unionism and UKIP intended to offer voters more choice.

He added: "We will be offering a non-sectarian, sensible, unionist alternative."

Speaking at Stormont, he said it was a "fantastic opportunity" for the party because of the proportional representation system in Northern Ireland.

He also expressed reservations about any European plan to bail out the Irish government and said that the UK would probably end up paying part of the cost.

The party currently holds 12 seats in the European parliament but none in the House of Commons.

It won 3.1% of the popular vote in the general election in May.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-11767355

There's the Unionist vote split even further, though they've only themselves to blame - I mean who'd have thought standing beside the leaders of the IRA would have looked bad?

The problem is that the existing parties are providing what the populace want. This is definitely true south of the border as well. FF and FG will probably suffer at the next Irish elections. Though will UKIP really do that well in NI when they are so similar to the Tories and when the cuts start to happen they will be very unpopular. Politics is a mess right now, with so much corruption and incompetence.