Arrest me now, challenges politician

A senior loyalist politician in Northern Ireland challenged the British government today to have him arrested if it believed his party had a say over what the Ulster Volunteer Force and Red Hand Commando do.

Progressive Unionist leader David Ervine issued the challenge after Northern Ireland Secretary Peter Hain gave the party a week to argue for the resumption of its Assembly allowances after he said he was thinking of withholding them for another year.