'UUP have become irrelevant to Stormont deal'

David Trimble’s Ulster Unionists have become increasingly irrelevant to the political process during negotiations to revive power-sharing in Northern Ireland, one of its former MPs claimed tonight.

In a stinging rebuke of the party he quit earlier this year, Democratic Unionist MP Jeffrey Donaldson criticised his former colleagues recent comments on efforts to secure a lasting settlement in the province.