Loyalists will only play a part in talks to resolve the problems in the Northern Ireland peace process if they are fully inclusive, Progressive Unionistleader Mr David Ervine warned this morning.
His party would not be involved in a process which shut it out of some talks, he said.
His warning came as Northern Ireland's politicians were preparing for a fresh round of discussions at Stormont today aimed at restoring devolution.
Mr Ervine, MLA for East Belfast, whose party has two Assembly members and is linked to the Ulster Volunteer Force, said: "No one should ask me or my colleagues to sign up to something we have had less than 100 per cent involvement in.
"We are not interested unless we are involved in all of this process from the embryonic stage to the end," he said.
"We need to return to the collective approach that existed in the run-up to the Belfast Agreement, and I hope lessons have been learned by the governments about the management of this process".
Another loyalist group, which is politically linked to the Ulster Defence Association, warned last night the talks were doomed to fail if the community it represented was not included.
The Ulster Political Research Group, which said working-class Protestants had been ignored to the point of irrelevance, demanded immediate Assemblyelections.
PA