Loyalist prisoners have warned the British Government that the future of the peace talks is at risk.

The prisoners, who have been freed on Christmas leave from the Maze prison, Belfast, claim the Government is favouring the IRA.

Patrick Magee has been granted 10 days with his family

The 10 day parole has been granted to 170 loyalist and republican prisoners including Thomas McMahon who was jailed for life for murdering Lord Mountbatten in 1979 and Patrick Magee who planted the Brighton bomb that killed five people during the Conservative Party Conference.

It is the first time that Magee has been eligible for the release scheme.

A spokesman for the loyalist prisoners, Billy Adams, said many of them were unhappy about the concessions made by the Labour government to the republican side:

"The loyalist ceasefire is shaky and this is undoubtedly the most dangerous phase since it began in October 1994."

He said the prisoners would be reassessing their attitude to the peace talks on Northern Ireland's future before they returned to jail again on January 2.

"The talks in their present form are working to a republican agenda of appeasement and constant concessions to Sinn Fein and the IRA," he added.

The recent confirmation that seven Republican prisoners are to be transfered from English jails to the Irish republic in the new year is also likely to exacerbate the problem.

Mowlam under pressure

The warning by members of the Ulster Defence Association (UDA) and the Ulster Freedom Fighters (UFF), two of the main illegal Protestant paramilitary groups, is likely to increase pressure on the Northern Ireland Secretary, Mo Mowlam, to make some sort of movement to appease the loyalist community.

Billy Adams: "ceasefire is shaky"

The talks process began in September with the Irish Republican Army's political wing Sinn Fein and the Ulster Unionists around a negotiating table for the first time.

Sinn Fein was allowed into the talks after the IRA declared a ceasefire on July 20.

Serious divisions have also emerged within the Ulster Unionist Party.

Four of its MPs have written to their chief whip saying they are "totally opposed" to the peace negotiations.

If the loyalist parties do pull out it could pose a grave risk to the peace talks, which aim to bring a decisive end to 28 years of violence in Northern Ireland.
 

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