Blair to hold separate meetings with SF and DUP

British Prime Minister Tony Blair is due to hold separate meetings with both the DUP and Sinn Féin today to assess the prospects for a resumption of peace talks.

The meetings are the first since the DUP effectively annihilated the UUP in the recent Westminster election.

The newly-strengthened party has vowed never to share power with Sinn Féin and wants the British government to exclude the party from politics.

The DUP has instead proposed a voluntary coalition excluding republicans, something that would breach the Good Friday Agreement and is unacceptable to nationalists of all kinds.

Despite this, Sinn Féin President Gerry Adams has expressed confidence that progress can be made as long as the Irish and British governments uphold the 1998 agreement.