Unionists silent on arms progress: McGuinness

Senior Ulster Unionists have refused to go public on private admissions that the IRA’s decision to allow arms dumps to be examined was a powerful development, Sinn Fein’s chief negotiator Martin McGuinness claimed today.

As Prime Minister Tony Blair prepared for Downing Street talks with the Rev Ian Paisley’s hardline Democratic Unionists, there was still no sign of the republican leadership moving on demands for the Provisionals to begin disarming.