The Ulster Unionist Party’s North Down association is set to begin its candidate selection process for the next Assembly election, triggering questions over the future of current MLA Alan Chambers.

Ards Peninsula councillor Pete Wray has been identified as the likely replacement. Wray chairs the Ards and North Down Policing and Community Safety Partnership and was first elected to the council in 2023. He also manages Ards and North Down Alternatives, a community-based restorative justice organisation.

Party sources say the selection process opens later this week. A candidate is expected to be announced later this month or in July. Wray’s nomination is not yet certain, requiring approval from both the local association and party officers.

Chambers, 78, is the longest-serving member of the Assembly and has represented North Down for a decade. He entered elected politics as an independent councillor in 1992. Last month he stated his intention to continue serving constituents, despite being told twice by the party that he would not be selected. He has not publicly said whether he would run as an independent.

UUP leader Jon Burrows said in a BBC interview that Chambers should have used the party press office rather than speaking to a newspaper. Burrows later met with Chambers.

The internal dispute coincides with wider turbulence in the party. Former leader Doug Beattie resigned as Upper Bann MLA last weekend, citing persistent negative briefings. In an interview on BBC Radio Ulster, Beattie described an insidious faction within the party and a toxic atmosphere that was harming members.