DUP to call for June election

DUP deputy leader Peter Robinson said government may have Lords difficulty

The Democratic Unionist Party is due to propose assembly elections should be held on 26 June in a Commons debate next week.

Legislation to postpone the elections is due to be debated in Parliament on Monday.

Last week, the UK prime minister said Northern Ireland's Assembly elections could not go ahead because the IRA had given a "point-blank" refusal to answer his questions on its future intentions.

DUP deputy leader Peter Robinson said the government may have difficulties with the bill when it reaches the House of Lords.

"A lot of people might assume, because the government has a massive majority in the House of Commons, that that means it has the ability to have its own way in parliament," he said.

"That isn't the case, because they don't have the massive majority in the House of Lords and they need the House of Lords to be on message as well.

"I think there will be many from the Conservative Party and the Liberal Democrats who feel it is quite atrocious the way the Secretary of State and the government has been treating Northern Ireland and in particular the democratic process."

Northern Ireland's devolved administration was suspended on 14 October 2002, amid allegations of IRA intelligence gathering in the Stormont government.

The IRA released two statements on Tuesday night - one given to the two governments three weeks ago, and another which sets out its current thinking.

The organisation has promised if the Good Friday Agreement was fully implemented it would make it possible to definitively set aside its arms.

Meanwhile, government compensation for calling off the election could amount to up to £4m.

The figure is contained in an explanatory note attached to the bill postponing the elections.

It says the precise level of salaries and allowances to former assembly members has yet to be determined.

However, it estimates that the amount is not likely to be more than £800,000 per month.

The bill says former assembly members will continue to qualify for some payment until the date of the next election.