Matthew Bell is to stand for election to Westminster in West Tyrone, the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) has today announced.
Bell was a councillor on Fermanagh and Omagh District Council having been co-opted to the seat in 2021 as the youngest councillor in the UUP.
![image Northern Ireland Elects](https://nielects.com/storage/2024/02/image-1024x731.png)
Commenting on his nomination, Bell said that he is “honoured to announce” that he will be standing.
“West Tyrone has been failed for decades by poor political leadership. I want to break that cycle and be a positive and productive voice.”
No other parties have announced their candidates for West Tyrone as of yet, but Bell’s announcement is the Ulster Unionist’s fifth candidate announcement – the most out of any party.
The current MP for West Tyrone is Sinn Fein’s Órfhlaith Begley, who won the seat in a by-election in May 2018 and was re-elected in the 2019 general election.
She does not take her seat in the House of Commons due to Sinn Fein’s abstentionist policy.