Northern Ireland Secretary Mo Mowlam has had a "productive" meeting with representatives of a key loyalist group in an attempt to persuade them against walking away from the peace talks.

Dr Mowlam described her meeting with the Progressive Unionist Party as "constructive" but said it was still uncertain whether the party, which is linked to the Ulster Volunteer Force, would return to the talks in January.

The PUP had threatened to pull out after the release of nine IRA prisoners in the Irish Republic.

The meeting at Belfast City Hall took place hours after revelations that four Ulster Unionist MPs have urged their leader David Trimble to pull out of the Stormont negotiations.

Dr Mowlam said she would consider the issues raised by the PUP and added: "I will certainly go away and think very carefully about the points they made, but I'm not going to make any judgements yet."

She will meet leaders of the Ulster Democratic Party, which is aligned to the outlawed Ulster Defence Association and the Ulster Freedom Fighters, at Stormont on Tuesday.

Mo Mowlam leaving the talks with the PUP

Afterwards PUP spokesman David Ervine said he would wait for Dr Mowlam's response to the points he had made before deciding about any future participation in the talks.

Mr Ervine said loyalists had been "insulted" by the importance given by the Dublin Government to the the issue of republican prisoners.

The UDP's John White said many ordinary loyalists were fed up with the government, which they saw as "continuously pandering to Sinn Fein-IRA in terms of concession after concession."

David Ervine tells reporters about the meeting with Dr Mowlem

The recent release by the Irish Government of nine IRA prisoners brought their fury to a head and the situation has been aggravated by London's decision to transfer several IRA men to jails in Ulster.

The PUP says no similar gesture has been made to loyalists by the British Government and points out the fuss made when Scotsman Jason Campbell, who stabbed to death a football fan in a sectarian attack, asked to be transferred to a jail in Northern Ireland.

Parole for Mountbatten killer

Up to 10 republican paramilitary prisoners are expected to get Christmas parole as part of an annual seasonal gesture by the Irish Government.

The group will include Thomas McMahon, the bomber who was jailed for life for murdering Lord Mountbatten and three other people in 1979.

McMahon cut his links with the IRA in 1990 and his family had hoped he would be added to a group of prisoners controversially freed last week despite not having completed their jail terms.

But the Irish authorities are thought to have decided against releasing him permanently because of the sensitivity over the Northern Ireland peace process.

UVF inmates angry at imbalance

The latest IRA man granted his wish of a transfer to a jail in his native Ulster is Patrick Martin, 36, who was convicted of planning to bomb London's electricity system last summer.

David Ervine: fed up with republican "concessions"

Martin, who was jailed for 35 years in July, was switched to the Maze prison, near Belfast, last week. He was part of a gang that had plotted to black out London and south-east England by blowing up electricity stations.

The court was told that if they had succeeded, power supplies would have been affected for months.

It is thought the PUP is under pressure from UVF inmates at the Maze who are angry at the perceived imbalance in concessions to loyalists and republicans.

Those within the UVF compound at the top-security prison were further angered by last month's escape by IRA killer Liam Averell which, they say, highlighted lax security within the IRA compound.

Sinn Fein welcomed the transfer and said all IRA men in English jails should be moved immediately.

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