Trimble under pressure following whip withdrawals

Ulster Unionist leader David Trimble was under increasing pressure today following the resignation of three of the party's parliamentary whips.

Party president Reverend Martin Smyth, Lagan Valley MP Jeffrey Donaldson and South Antrim MP David Burnside announced their decision to resign their positions in the hope of increasing the pressure on Mr Trimble and his stance on the recent British Irish Joint Declaration.

At a news conference on Monday, the three men said it was clear "that the leadership of our party does not represent, and cannot speak for, a growing majority of unionists and has comprehensively failed to address their concerns.

"These people need a voice and we will work with other unionists of a like mind in parliament to ensure that their views are properly represented and their concerns adequately addressed," they added.

However, the UUP's Assembly Party expressed its regret at the decision and said it only showed contempt for the UUC delegates.

In a statement, it said: "We call on all Ulster Unionists to recommit themselves to the task of bringing about an end to paramilitarism and to look to the wider interests of Northern Ireland as a whole as part of the United Kingdom.

"The agreed aim of the UUP is to bring about a resolution of our historic conflict on a democratic basis. That task is made all the harder when fellow Ulster Unionists fail to uphold democratic decisions.

"The Assembly Party reiterates that it has not accepted the Governments' Joint Declaration and believes that final decisions on that document must await acts of completion from the Republican movement."

The decision by Mr Donaldson means he will now remain within the Ulster Unionist Party to fight his corner despite rumours he was to quit the party following last week's Ruling Council vote defeat.

All three men are now likely to discuss a united unionist front against the joint declaration with representatives of the UK Unionist Party, led by former MP Robert McCartney, and the DUP.

DUP leader Ian Paisley expressed his regret that Mr Donaldson had decided not to join his ever growing band of disaffected UUP members, however he said he found it "understandable that those who have given long service to a party will have difficulty in coming to terms with what that party has become, and that the lifting of long established roots is not easy".

But, welcoming the move by the three MP's Mr Paisley said it was now clear that the "majority of Unionists now share the common view that the Belfast Agreement and its offspring, the Joint Declaration do not provide the basis for political stability in Northern Ireland".

A meeting between David Trimble and Irish Premier Bertie Ahern in Dublin was cancelled immediately following Monday's announcement.

(MB)