Call made for closer DUP/UUP links

Anti-agreement Ulster Unionist David Burnside has called on his party to form a united front with the DUP to force a re-negotiation of the Good Friday Agreement.

Speaking to a UUP meeting in the absence of party leader David Trimble, Mr Burnside called for an end to infighting within unionism.

As a first step, he said, the UUP and the DUP should hold a united unionist convention next month to agree strategy and tactics for re-negotiating the agreement.

However, the DUP appeared to ridicule the idea, saying the UUP must end its "coalition with Sinn Fein" before any unionist alliance can be formed.

DUP leader Ian Paisley said Mr Burnside’s idea has more to do with saving the UUP from electoral oblivion next May than with saving the union between the North and Britain.