Hardliners call meeting of UUP ruling council

Anti-agreement members of the Ulster Unionist Party have succeeded in calling an extraordinary meeting of the party’s ruling council to discuss disciplinary action taken against rebel MLAs Peter Weir and Pauline Armitage.

Hardline UUP members are reportedly furious after Mr Weir was expelled from the party and Mrs Armitage was suspended for voting against the re-election of David Trimble as First Minister.

Mrs Armitage said today that she does not know who was responsible for calling the council meeting but she said Mr Trimble should be worried about the outcome.

Anti-agreement UUP members also want their leader, Mr Trimble, to agree an strategy for resigning from the North’s Assembly and power-sharing Executive if the IRA does not decommission more weapons in the near future.

Hardline unionists want decommissioning to be completed by February next year, when the International Independent Commission on Decommissioning's current remit expires.

The calling of a UUP ruling council meeting comes as the latest blow to the peace process in the North, which was recently saved when the IRA made an unprecedented gesture on arms.

However, many unionists appear suspicious about the IRA’s motives and believe they should not be sharing power with Sinn Fein while the IRA retains its arsenal.