The Ulster Unionist Party’s sole MP Lady Sylvia Hermon today said she will “weigh up her options” after refusing to fight the next election under a joint banner with the Conservative Party.

Unionist voters in Northern Ireland were told today they could strengthen ties with Britain by backing the Conservative Party’s new political platform in the region.

US President George Bush’s one-day trip to the North cost British taxpayers more than £300,000 (€376,000) in policing costs, it emerged tonight.

IN THE concluding sentence of his magisterial new history of Ireland from the French revolution to the present day, Professor Paul Bew wonders if, “as ethnic rage gives way to ethnic vanity, is it really possible that the enmities of Irish history are losing their power to hurt and destroy”?

British Home Secretary John Reid has put on hold the planned deportation from the North of an African mother and baby daughter, it was announced today.

Over-worked drivers are behind a sharp rise in the number of bus and train accidents in Northern Ireland, a trade unionist claimed today.

The head of the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission should be removed from office, Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) leader Ian Paisley claimed today.

Lady Sylvia Hermon today became the first Northern MP to declare she will donate a day’s salary to families affected by the collapse of the Farepak Christmas Savings Scheme.

Eyewitness claims that the Ulster Volunteer Force was involved in extortion and other criminal activities were today cited by Ulster Unionist MP Lady Sylvia Hermon as a reason for her unease over her party’s decision to link up with the Progressive Unionists in the Stormont Assembly.

Northern Ireland Secretary Peter Hain has agreed to meet the father of a loyalist murder victim whose death is at the centre of a major collusion inquiry, it was revealed tonight.

Democratic Unionist MEP Jim Allister was accused of shameless opportunism today after he attacked rival Ulster Unionists for joining forces at Stormont with a loyalist politician.

Another Ulster Unionist has defected to the UK's Conservatives, it emerged tonight.

An Ulster Unionist councillor is defecting to the Conservatives in protest at the party’s deal with the Progressive Unionist Party, it emerged today.

Ulster Unionist leader Reg Empey today vowed to stick with his strategy of persuading loyalist paramilitaries to abandon violence, despite criticism from a senior colleague.

Northern Ireland MPs will be invited to sit on a special committee in the Dáil dealing with issues affecting them, Sinn Féin said today.

Paramilitary groups in the North were blamed today for the level of suicide among young men.

A senior Ulster Unionist today told candidates for the party leadership they must oppose any form of devolution which would see Sinn Féin in government if they are to stand any chance of securing his backing in the contest.

The new leader of the Ulster Unionist Party will be elected at a special meeting of the party's ruling council on June 23.

Members of the Ulster Unionist Party’s ruling executive will gather in Belfast today to decide whether to hold a swift leadership contest.

Senior figures in the Ulster Unionists are looking at plans for a corporate leadership of the party in the wake of David Trimble’s resignation, it was claimed today.

Outgoing Ulster Unionist Party leader David Trimble is expected to explain his decision to resign in Belfast today.

THE Ulster Unionist Party’s last remaining MP, Lady Sylvia Hermon, yesterday said she is considering contesting the party leadership.

The wife of a former RUC chief constable is considering running for the leadership of the Ulster Unionist party.

The former Ulster Unionist Party leader David Trimble will be remembered as a man of courage who took risks for peace, Taoiseach Bertie Ahern said today.

Ulster Unionists were today contemplating life without David Trimble as leader.

Harry McGee, Political Editor

A former MP today gave the Democratic Unionists a clear run in a bid to wrest away a safe Ulster Unionist seat in the general election.

An all-night party house has been searched by police hunting for the body of a woman who vanished from a seaside caravan park, it emerged tonight.

The daily Irish language newspaper Lá has blamed unionists for forcing it to lay off two workers.

The British government has total confidence in disarmament body chief General John de Chastelain’s role in verifying any future move on IRA weapons, a junior minister insisted today.

British army chiefs were urged to hand over a soldier wanted for serious driving offences three months before he killed his teenage girlfriend in a horrific road crash, it was revealed today.

DAVID TRIMBLE launched moves last night to have his Ulster Unionist Party president, the Rev Martin Smyth, removed from the post after he joined two other hardline MPs in resigning the party whip in parliament.

THERE is little point in proceeding with multi-party talks in the North if the IRA refuses to address the need to give up all paramilitary activity, Ulster Unionist leader David Trimble, insisted last night.

There’s little point in proceeding with multi-party talks in Northern Ireland if the IRA refuses to address the need for it to give up all paramilitary activity, Ulster Unionist leader, David Trimble, insisted tonight.

President Bush’s special envoy Richard Haass was arriving in Northern Ireland today for a series of meetings with the political parties on the latest crisis in the peace process.

Anti-agreement assembly member Peter Weir tonight won his bid for reinstatement to the Ulster Unionist Party.

Ulster Unionists are today preparing to hear an appeal for the reinstatement of an Assembly member suspended from the party for defying David Trimble.

On a hot sunny morning the next MP for North Down was meeting supporters among the shoppers in Bangor’s weekly market.

The Reverend Ian Paisley today urged anti-Agreement Ulster Unionist MPs to break their silence or risk being regarded as supporters of David Trimble.

A decision by Northern Ireland’s Alliance Party to pull out of the North Down constituency in favour of David Trimble’s Ulster Unionist Party was one of the toughest decisions it has had to make, leader Sean Neeson said tonight.

The Unionist Party will contest 11 seats in the local Government elections, it was announced today.

Anti-Agreement rebel and Ulster Unionist assemblyman, Peter Weir, is threatening to take legal action against his own party after he was suspended from membership.