DUP 'not offering alternative'

Nigel Dodds called for the prime minister to name an election date

No better alternative to the Good Friday Agreement has been offered by the Democratic Unionists, Prime Minister Tony Blair has said.

Mr Blair was responding to the DUP's Nigel Dodds during Prime Minister's Questions in the Commons on Wednesday.

The North Belfast MP had attacked moves to "save Dave or to appease the IRA" and said people in Northern Ireland should be given a chance to vote for "a better way forward".

Mr Blair told him the Agreement had delivered "tremendous benefits" which were only made possible because of the "courage" of political leaders willing to participate.

He added: "You say there is some other agreement out there waiting to be negotiated.

The prime minister can fool himself that the Belfast Agreement is the only agreement, but we all know differently Nigel Dodds Democratic Unionist MP

"As I said to some of your colleagues when they came to see me - I don't know what that agreement is but I do not see you negotiating, or your colleagues negotiating a better agreement.

"The agreement we have got is the only agreement that is on offer and anything else is deeply to mislead the people of Northern Ireland."

Mr Dodds called on Mr Blair to allow people to have their say by naming a date for assembly elections.

He said: "The prime minister can fool himself that the Belfast Agreement is the only agreement, but we all know differently.

"Every recent election result has shown us that a clear majority of the unionist people reject the Belfast Agreement and its workings.

"By the rules established in the Belfast Agreement, it cannot and should not survive.

"Only a new agreement supported by a majority of unionists, as well as nationalists, can deliver the stability Northern Ireland needs."

The three rebel MPs said conditions were unacceptable

Meanwhile, three dissident Ulster Unionist MPs have announced that they will now not rejoin the party's group in parliament.

Jeffrey Donaldson, David Burnside and Martin Smyth had written to the party saying they were prepared to come back into the fold.

However, they now say they are being asked to "jump through hoops", by having to apply individually and to promise to abide by all future party decisions.

They have described these conditions as "unacceptable and unprecedented".

However, the Ulster Unionist Party chairman, James Cooper, has hit back at the claims.

Mr Cooper said it was wrong to say the three MPs were being asked to do too much.

He added it was sad that some within the party still stood defiant against the majority of party members' wishes.

On Tuesday night, the three MPs released a joint statement saying there should be no fudge or ambiguity on the questions of IRA disarmament and ending paramilitary activity.

The three MPs faced action after their decision in June to resign the party whip at Westminster.

'Disciplinary action'

They did not support the Good Friday Agreement and called for party leader David Trimble to change party policy or step down from the post.

In response, Mr Trimble said the so-called "gang of three" should quit the party.

In September, the 900-member Ulster Unionist Council met to discuss disciplinary action against the three MPs.

They voted in favour of party leader David Trimble's motion calling for the MPs to retake the parliamentary whip.

It is understood that the MPs' previous decision to return to the Commons came in the wake of a statement from the UUP which was strongly critical of the British-Irish joint declaration.

The MPs argued that they made their point by voting against recent legislation linked to the declaration which set up an Independent Monitoring Commission on Paramilitary Activity.