Trimble walks away from Agreement review

Ulster Unionist leader David Trimble has accused Prime Minister Tony Blair of deluding himself in his trust of the IRA and Sinn Fein and has pulled the party out of the Good Friday Review process.

The Upper Bann MP's decision came ahead of a planned meeting with Mr Blair at Downing Street on Wednesday.

Mr Trimble said that the UUP would take no further part in the review until they had a response to particular requests put to the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland Paul Murphy and the Irish Foreign Minister Brian Cowan.

Yesterday, Mr Trimble hit out at the Prime Minister's tolerance of terrorism in Northern Ireland with his campaign against it elsewhere in the world.

The Upper Bann MP said he was furious with Mr Blair for failing to impose tough sanctions on Sinn Fein and the IRA following accusations that the terror group was involved in the recent abduction of dissident republican, Bobby Tohill.

"It is the worst-kept secret in Belfast that the Provisionals are active and have been found out," said Mr Trimble.

"Tony Blair is deluded to allow this situation to continue. While the IRA violence is low-level, it is deeply entrenched and is about republicans imposing control in the communities that they wish to rule.

"There is huge complacency on this. The IRA may have stopped killing soldiers and policemen but, when the crunch comes, the social power and racketeering are more important to the organisation than the political success Sinn Fein has had."

On Monday, Mr Trimble met the Secretary of State, Paul Murphy and warned him he must act against any alleged IRA activity in the wake of the recent abduction.

The Ulster Unionist leader is expected to discuss these concerns, as well as Sinn Fein's continued involvement in the review of the Good Friday Agreement, at tomorrow's meeting with the Prime Minister.

Mr Trimble added that the party would continue to maintain established contacts with other political parties.

The SDLP leader Mark Durkan said the last thing that the political process needed was for people to walk away. He said that he thought Mr Trimble was making a "serious political mistake".

(MB)