DUP: 'Agreement re-negotiation inevitable after election'

The Democratic Unionist Party has claimed that re-negotiation of the Good Friday Agreement will be inevitable after the Assembly elections in the North next month.

The DUP, which is due to launch its election campaign tomorrow, has vowed to seek a re-negotiation of the agreement if it succeeds in overtaking the Ulster Unionist Party as the largest political party in the North.

Yesterday, British Prime Minister Tony Blair repeated his view that the Good Friday Agreement was not negotiable, a clear criticism of the DUP’s stance.

The DUP’s election campaign is expected to take the form of an all-out attack on UUP leader David Trimble and the Good Friday Agreement, which ended the IRA’s 30-year armed struggle.

Last night, DUP deputy leader Peter Robinson said voters were being asked to choose who they would like to lead negotiations with Sinn Féin.

Mr Robinson said Mr Trimble had failed in his negotiations with the republican movement, capitulating time and time again.

He said the DUP would not be so forthcoming and would demand a re-negotiation of the 1998 agreement.