'Britain should stop pandering to negative unionism'

Sinn Féin MP Pat Doherty has called on the British Government to end its "patronage" of the Ulster Unionist Party.

Mr Doherty claimed the move was necessary to help overcome the current impasse in the peace process.

He said Britain should set a date for Assembly elections which were scheduled for last May, but cancelled amid predictions that the UUP was set to be overtaken by the anti-agreement Democratic Unionist Party.

"The political institutions are at the very centre of the Good Friday Agreement," Mr Doherty said.

"The absence of these institutions and the cancellation of the Assembly elections by the British Government has caused enormous difficulties. This situation has been exacerbated by the continual pandering to negative and reactionary unionism by the British Government."