THE UK Unionist Party published its manifesto yesterday, criticising the Ulster Unionist leader, Mr David Trimble, for his willingness to return to multiparty talks in June "based on a nationalist agenda".
The party's leader, Mr Robert McCartney, said the foundation stone of the Stormont negotiations was the Framework Document, which offered "Irish unity by instalments".
"How can David Trimble reconcile that with his avowed unionist principles?" Mr McCartney asked.
The Progressive Unionist Party also launched its manifesto yesterday, saying its only ammunition was its "brain and tongue". The PUP, which is running in three constituencies, put forward proposals for a devolved form of government.
The PUP leader, Mr David Ervine, who is standing in South Belfast, said that only 3 per cent of his party's members came from paramilitary backgrounds "which means that 97 per cent do not".
The SDLP MP for South Down, Mr Eddie McGrady, claimed that no political party in the North except his own had shown any practical record of concern on social and economic issues.
The Conservative candidate for East Belfast, Ms Sarah Dines, criticised the media for their use of language. It was, appalling to talk of the "IRA army council" or "ceasefire", she said. "These terms attempt to legitimise and hide the utter criminality of what has happened both in Northern Ireland and on the mainland."