Inside the DUP: The Democratic Unionist Party has ruled out negotiations with Sinn Féin to form a Northern Ireland Executive, the party's deputy leader, Mr Peter Robinson, has declared. Mark Hennessy reports.
"There has been a notion spread about by the Ulster Unionists that there is some division in the DUP, that Ian Paisley is going one way and Peter Robinson, Nigel Dodds and Gregory Campbell are going another," Mr Robinson said.
"This isn't the reality. Live in the real world, fellows. The DUP is a united party. We do not have divisions as the Ulster Unionists do. Anybody who believes that is wrong."
Focusing his attentions on the British government, Mr Robinson said: "The DUP will stick together in the Assembly, in these negotiations and to get the outcome that we want."
The DUP, he said, produced 400 pages during the election campaign outlining its criticisms of the Good Friday Agreement.
"We made it clear what is wrong with the current process. That is mounds more than all of the other parties put together. The DUP has been upfront. Anybody who asks now what happens now should read the documents," he said.
Privately, other parties argue that the DUP, which already sits on local councils with Sinn Féin around Northern Ireland, would be prepared to negotiate directly with Sinn Féin once Dr Ian Paisley steps down as party leader.
However, Mr Robinson's trenchant rejection yesterday of this argument, coupled with the fact that the European Parliament elections take place next June, offers little prospect for progress.
The party's policy papers insist that "representatives of terrorism" should be barred from talks, while the NI Executive should not be established "until terrorist structures and weaponry" are destroyed.