Mallon dismayed by UUP motion

Seamus Mallon has said that the proposed UUP motion to exclude the two Sinn Fein ministers from the Northern Assembly will "deepen the crisis in the North instead of helping to solve it".

The UUP refuse to sit in the executive with the Sinn Fein ministers, Martin McGuinness and Bairbre De Bruin, until the IRA has begun decommissioning.

Acting Deputy First Minister Mr Mallon says that by trying to remove the two ministers, the UUP are "acting against the spirit of the Good Friday Agreement".

Mr Trimble is threatening to pull his ministers out of the power sharing executive if, as expected, the motion to exclude Sinn Fein is rejected.