Mr Robinson said,
“I called Doug earlier to give him my best wishes. As leaders within Unionism, we had many shared interests. Whilst we differed over tactics, there is no doubt that Doug is a committed Unionist who wants to see Northern Ireland remain firmly within the United Kingdom.
Doug knows I was disappointed that in constituencies like Fermanagh & South Tyrone it required unilateral action by the DUP to ensure there was a single pro-Union candidate.
Divisions within Unionism have handed seats to non-unionists at Council level, in the NI Assembly and most recently in the Westminster elections.
The election of a new UUP Leader is a matter for UUP members but top of my priorities for the new leader will be discussions about how we maximise the pro-Union vote in future elections.”