DUP leader Arlene Foster to attend Scottish Orange Order parade

Democratic Unionist Party leader Arlene Foster is expected to attend an Orange Order parade in Scotland.

The politician accepted an invite to Saturday’s event, organised by the Grand Orange Lodge of Scotland, in Cowdenbeath, Fife.

She will be the main speaker at the parade, which is one of the biggest in Scotland and involves lodges from Fife, Edinburgh, the Lothians and elsewhere in the central belt.

Ms Foster is expected to stress there is “no place in 2018 for sectarianism or prejudice against any section of our community - that includes the Orange Order”.

Grand Orange Lodge of Scotland executive officer Robert McLean said he believes it is the first time she has attended one of the Boyne celebration parades in Scotland.

But he said attendance by Northern Ireland politicians at Scottish parades is not unusual and former first minister and DUP leader Peter Robinson had done so in the past.

Earlier this month Labour and the Liberal Democrats in Scotland said Ms Foster’s time would be better spent in Northern Ireland, where there is no devolved government in place following its collapse more than a year ago.