It was a dignified, if somewhat inglorious, exit which David Trimble made from Northern Ireland’s mainstream political arena, having led his Ulster Unionist Party into an electoral wasteland in last week’s Westminster elections.

An early exit poll says that David Trimble's UUP Party and the Ian Paisley's DUP are running neck-and-neck.

The Ulster Unionist Party has today been voting on the issue of whether or not the party should continue in the North-South Ministerial Council meetings.

Pro and Anti-Agreement Unionists will battle it out for the UUP party’s nomination to fight the South Belfast constituency.