Blair and Ahern 'take stock'

Tony Blair and Bertie Ahern held talks in London

Downing Street has described as a "stocktaking meeting," the British and Irish prime ministers' talks in London on the Northern Ireland political process.

Prime Minister Tony Blair's official spokesman said on Wednesday that the meeting set out the work agenda for officials to take forward in the next few weeks.

He said it was still the government's "strong preference" for elections to take place in the autumn but they had to be held in a context which would lead to a viable executive.

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

Speaking afterwards, Irish Prime Minister Bertie Ahern said the Irish Government still believed it was important to hold the assembly elections.

The prime ministers were joined by former US President Bill Clinton for informal discussions towards the end of the meeting.

The discussions focussed on issues including criminal justice, policing, human rights and victims.

Both governments have published a timetable mapping out how these matters will be tackled.

A Justice Bill will be introduced later this year, while an Equality Bill and an initiative aimed at supporting victims of violence will be unveiled in September.

Mr Ahern will get a first hand sense of the pressures within the Ulster Unionists when he meets party leader David Trimble immediately after the prime ministerial summit.

Increased pressure

The rift in the Ulster Unionist Party widened when Jeffrey Donaldson, Martin Smyth and David Burnside were suspended from the party following a decision to quit the party whip at Westminster.

They quit the whip in a move designed to increase pressure on Mr Trimble by refusing to endorse his policy on the recent British-Irish joint declaration.

Three Ulster Unionist MPs quit the party whip at Westminster

Besides discussing the question of elections, the two governments were also considering their plans for a four-strong Independent Monitoring Body which will include British, Irish and US nominees.

It is thought that draft legislation for the body could be produced before parliament breaks for the summer later this month.

There was also some discussion of setting the body up in a shadow form before it gets any real power.

The monitor proposal was included in May's joint declaration by the governments.

It also outlined plans to reduce troop numbers to 5,000 as part of an attempt to move the Northern Ireland political process forward.

The joint declaration included 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.