PUP 'wants loyalist weapons move'

The PUP is linked to the UVF

The leader of the UVF-linked Progressive Unionist Party has said she would like to see loyalists decommission their weapons.

Dawn Purvis said minds would be focused on the issue after Secretary of State Shaun Woodward warned legal ways of decommissioning would not last forever.

The UVF announced it was putting its weapons beyond reach last year.

"We would like to see decommissioning happen within loyalist communities," Ms Purvis said.

"That would be an indication, I believe, that loyalist communities are feeling safe, that they have been brought into the new political dispensation and they are reaping the benefits of redevelopment and regeneration."

Mr Woodward has signalled he would wind up the decommissioning body sooner, rather than later.

At the moment the Independent International Body on Decommissioning oversees the process.

However, Mr Woodward said Northern Ireland could only be a normal society when such a body no longer existed.