Progressive Unionist Party (PUP) leader David Ervine has said he plans to challenge a ruling by Assembly speaker Eileen Bell that he cannot enter into a voluntary coalition with the Ulster Unionist Party.
Ms Bell, in the restricted Assembly which returned after the summer recess yesterday, said the Assembly connection between the UUP and the PUP, which is linked to the Ulster Volunteer Force under the umbrella of the Ulster Unionist Assembly Group (UUAG), was not valid.
She said that on legal advice the UUAG could not qualify as a party because it did not meet all the characteristics of a political party as laid down in legislation, such as having a leader, offices, a constitution, and an intention to stand in elections.
Her ruling angered Mr Ervine and caused embarrassment for UUP leader Sir Reg Empey. The party's only MP, Lady Sylvia Hermon, and Assembly member Esmond Birnie opposed the connection because of the PUP's association with the UVF, while former Young Unionist chairman Peter Bowles resigned from the party in protest at the link.
Sir Reg has consistently stated, as he repeated yesterday, that he was determined to work with loyalism to persuade the UVF and other loyalist paramilitaries to decommission and to end violence and criminality.
As Assembly party strengths break down, bringing Mr Ervine loosely under the mantle of the UUP would have given the UUP three ministerial posts in a restored Northern Executive instead of two, reducing the Sinn Féin ministries from three to two, and leaving the DUP with three ministries.
As the parties were elected in 2003 the DUP would be entitled to four ministries and Sinn Féin, the UUP and the SDLP two each.
Mr Ervine said he believed the judgment was wrong and "incredible" under the Assembly rules of procedure. He indicated he would take legal advice and said he would challenge the ruling.
"I believe what I did with Sir Reg Empey was perfectly legal under the rules of procedure, and I believe the speaker has stepped outside those rules," he said.
When asked if the ruling could have a negative impact on whether the UVF might decommission and disavow violence, Mr Ervine replied: "When a reasonable scumbag like me can't be in mainstream [ politics] how do you think the others will feel? I think it is a mistake."
Sir Reg said the UUP acted in good faith in creating the UUAG with Mr Ervine with the intention of maximising unionist representation on the executive and reducing Sinn Féin ministries.
He said that if the Executive was restored, Sinn Féin leader Gerry Adams would now have the second choice after the DUP on which ministry it wanted.
He blamed the DUP for challenging the legality of the link. "It appears to us that the DUP is prepared to see anybody elected or promoted as long as it damages fellow unionists in the UUP. There is no other logical explanation," added Sir Reg.
DUP deputy leader Peter Robinson said, "With a huge section of the unionist community the credibility of the UUP has been holed beneath the water line. Reg Empey has endured nothing but pain for no gain. He has seriously split his party on the issue.
"I think this is a nightmare of a ruling for the Ulster Unionist Party."
