SDLP's McDonnell urges govts to lift assembly suspension

The British and Irish governments should challenge republicans and unionists in Northern Ireland to advance politics by lifting the suspension of the Stormont Assembly, ministers were urged tonight.

As US President George W Bush’s special envoy Ambassador Mitchell Reiss prepares for a round of talks tomorrow with the North's leaders, nationalist SDLP deputy leader Dr Alasdair McDonnell insisted London and Dublin had to stick by the Good Friday Agreement in the coming months.