UUP meet to schedule council meeting

Ulster Unionist Party officers are meeting in Co Fermanagh today to decide the scheduling of the council meeting forced by hardliners within the party.

Hardline elements from within the party gathered the 60 signatures needed to force an emergency meeting of the 860-strong council on Monday.

The UUP leader David Trimble had earlier last month called for a meeting of the council to review their role with Sinn Fein in the power-sharing executive – precisely the same motive behind Tuesday's petition. Many observers would interpret the move as a stunt, as it would appear that without the petition the council meeting would have happened in September anyway.

The 14 members of the party's inner council will decide when to stage the meeting, which had to be held within three weeks from today according to party rules.

Sinn Fein's chief whip, Sue Ramsey urged the UUP not to withdraw from executive.

"Unionism needs to look at where they are trying to take us. A strategy based on rejecting the Sinn Fein mandate is not only fundamentally undemocratic but is feeding into the political vacuum that anti-agreement forces thrive in," she said.

Indeed, the prospect of a withdrawal from the executive was mooted in a statement sanctioned by UUP headquarters last month. UUP assembly member Fred Cobain made it clear that the party would bring down the power-sharing executive if the British government did not act against paramilitary violence.

Mr Cobain said: "Unless there is a clear commitment from Sinn Fein to the agreement there will not be an Assembly next year. It will not be around for the elections because David Trimble and the party have made a commitment – if we do not see moves by republicans on decommissioning and disbandment of the paramilitaries, action will be taken.

"There is no alternative to the agreement, so, at this time, a return to direct rule would seem to be the only remaining way forward."

The statement was aimed to apply pressure on Downing Street, the North Belfast assembly member made those comments one week before the Prime Minister and Northern Ireland secretary outlined their response to paramilitarism.

However, the council meeting may be more serious for David Trimble's future as leader of the party, as two powerful advocates for the hardline faction MPs Jeffrey Donaldson and David Burnside become more vocal in their opposition to the direction the party is going.

With a record of swinging troublesome council meetings behind him, David Trimble could find this one the most testing of all.

(GMcG)