MP to consider UUP future

Jeffrey Donaldson has put forward a motion for the council meeting

An anti-Agreement MP has threatened to leave the party if it does not reject a joint government plan designed to break the political deadlock.

Lagan Valley MP Jeffrey Donaldson said the British and Irish Governments' joint declaration breached "key unionist principles and does not provide the basis for stability in Northern Ireland."

The declaration includes five annexes dealing with security normalisation, policing and justice, human rights and equality, on-the-run paramilitaries and mechanisms to verify and monitor any deal.

The UUP's 800-strong ruling council will meet on 16 June when they will discuss a motion to reject proposals linked to the declaration, which was given to the parties in March.

Mr Donaldson said he objected to plans for a reduction in troop levels, which have raised questions about the future of the Royal Irish Regiment's (RIR) three Northern Ireland-based battalions.

He said the council meeting represented a "defining moment" for his party.

'Fudge'

He told BBC Radio Ulster on Saturday that the declaration was "fundamentally flawed".

He said if the the declaration was not rejected: "People like myself will have to consider our position. I could not go before the electorate on a manifesto which either fudged or endorsed the join declaration."

He added: "People like myself, the people that I represent, half the Ulster Unoinst party, we may be put in a position where we have to decide - can we continue to give allegiance to a party that is either going to fudge or give a fair wind to a joint declaration that breaches key unionist principles and does not provide a basis for political stability in NI?"

Mr Donaldson also said he objected to Irish involvement in a proposed international group intended to monitor paramilitary activity.

The joint declaration planned an ultimate reduction of troops in Northern Ireland to 5,000.

Government sources say no cuts before "acts of completion"

However, an Army spokesman said any reduction in troop numbers was on the condition that the IRA made it clear that its war was over and made "acts of completion" to decommission its weapons.

UUP leader David Trimble said he would "not lift a finger" over the joint declaration until he received an assurance on the future of the RIR.

Shadow Northern Ireland spokesman Quentin Davies urged the government to clarify if it gave any private assurance to the Mr Trimble that home battalions of the RIR would be retained.

Mr Davies said it was time the government clarified its position on the matter.

"I am not in favour of making or giving private assurances to anybody," he told the Inside Politics programme.

"What is more, of course, only the prime minister or secretary of state could actually make a valid assurance of that kind."

Earlier this month, two Army watchtowers were taken down near the border in south Armagh as part of the joint declaration.

Northern Ireland's devolved administration was suspended last October amid allegations of IRA intelligence gathering in the Stormont government.

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The joint declaration between British and Irish Governments
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