UUP to hold talks on Tory merger

The Ulster Unionist Party is due to hold talks next week on the possibility of merging with the British Conservative Party.

UUP leader David Trimble is pushing for a renewal of the party’s old alliance with the Tories, which was scrapped when Margaret Thatcher signed the Anglo-Irish Agreement in 1985.

Despite the party leader’s backing, senior Ulster Unionist sources believe a new relationship is unlikely. Reg Empey, one of Mr Trimble’s most loyal allies, is believed to be leading the opposition to the proposed merger.

Meanwhile, the Ulster Unionist leader is expected to face fresh calls to withdraw from government in the North when his party’s 120-strong executive meets on Saturday.

Anti-agreement MP David Burnside has said Mr Trimble must take action if Northern Secretary John Reid fails to declare that the IRA has breached its ceasefire. "The party needs to seek the exclusion of Sinn Fein with support from the DUP and SDLP," he said.

"If they aren’t excluded, I believe we have approached the point where unionist ministers can no longer participate in the [power-sharing] Executive." His view was supported by UUP deputy leader John Taylor, also known as Lord Kilclooney.