Unionists 'discontented' with leadership

David Trimble is facing calls from hardliners to withdraw from the executive

Five Ulster Unionist MPs have claimed there is growing evidence of dissatisfaction among assembly members over the political direction of the party leadership.

In a statement on Thursday, anti-agreement unionists Jeffrey Donaldson, William Ross, William Thompson, Roy Beggs and the Reverend Martin Smyth insisted they were united behind a policy of "no guns, no government".

Party leader David Trimble is facing a meeting of his party's 860-member ruling council on 28 October, which could spell the end of the party's policy of sharing power at Stormont with republicans.

There is, as yet, no formal motion for the delegates but it is clear they will be asked to pull their ministers out of the assembly executive in the absence of IRA decommissioning and what they see as further concessions on policing.

If Mr Trimble is forced to pull out of the executive, it is unlikely he could continue as leader.

Thursday's statement by the five MPs came after a number of attacks from unionists who are fully behind the 1998 Good Friday Agreement.

The MPs were said to be particularly annoyed by criticism from party colleague and environment minister Sam Foster who claimed there was a major split in the anti-agreement camp.

Mr Foster, a staunch supporter of Mr Trimble, said there were "glaring contradictions over devolution and the way forward" and said that it was "now clear that several rival factions existed".

Mr Foster added: "Jeffrey Donaldson is not opposed to devolution, at least he tells us so.

"He wants Sinn Fein out, unless there are arms handed in. That's what we want too, that's what we're pursuing.

Reverend Martin Smyth: Backing "no guns, no government" motion

"Martin Smyth and Willie Ross seem to want direct rule back in again. They need to tell the electorate what they do want. There seems to be great confusion out there."

But this was denied by the group of MPs.

They said they were united behind the policy of "no guns, no government" and claimed there were problems within party ranks at Stormont.

They said there was "growing evidence of dissatisfaction over the leadership being given".

The MPs claimed "more evidence of this will become apparent in the coming days".

In February, the fledgling power-sharing executive was suspended because of the impasse over paramilitary arms decommissioning.

In May, the IRA agreed to allow two international inspectors to verify that some of their arms dumps were secure, as part of a "confidence building measure" in the peace process.

Shortly afterwards, devolution was restored after Mr Trimble secured the backing of his party's ruling council to to test the IRA offer to put its arms beyond use.

But the vote in favour of this move was narrow with only 53% of the council backing the decision and 47% opposed.

Since then, party dissidents, including Mr Donaldson, have said the IRA's arms move was not satisfactory progress towards disarmament.

In a statement earlier this month, an Ulster Unionist review group, which had been examining the decommissioning issue, said republicans could no longer continue to "reap the benefits of ministerial office" without IRA disarmament.

The group also said that "without any credible and verifiable decommissioning it is crucial that any proposed reforms to the RUC should be immediately withdrawn".

However, at the 28 October meeting, Mr Trimble is expected to argue that his twin aims remain decommissioning and devolution.