SENIOR republicans are confident that the British Labour Party will deal with Sinn Fein after the British general election, despite the Aintree Grand National debacle engineered by the IRA.
And while the Democratic Unionist Party's Mr Gregory Campbell yesterday decided to challenge the sitting Ulster Unionist Party MP, Mr William Ross, in East Derry the two main unionist parties are understood to be agreed on how unionists should contest 16 of the North's 18 constituencies.
The key marginals of North Belfast and West Tyrone are still in dispute. "Horse-trading" between the party leaders, Mr David Trimble and the Rev Ian Paisley, may resolve the matter.
The DUP and the UUP also plan to run an agreed candidate in West Belfast, even though such a move would enhance Sinn Fein president Mr Gerry Adams's prospects against the sitting SDLP MP, Dr Joe Hendron.
Sinn Fein's chief negotiator Mr Martin McGuinness yesterday described as "electioneering" Labour's reaction to the Aintree alert. The Labour Shadow Home Secretary Mr Jack Straw's comment that the incident had put republicans "beyond the pale" was prompted by the pressure from his Tory counterpart Mr Michael Howard, he added.
"All of us see what is happening in Britain at the moment, specifically the debate between Jack Straw and Michael Howard, very much as electioneering," he said at an election press conference in west Belfast yesterday.
"I believe we can go into this election with considerable confidence that the British Labour Party will not repeat the mistakes of the Conservative administration," he added.
His views were endorsed by the party chairman Mr Mitchel McLaughlin and the party vice-president Mr Pat Doherty at the conference. Mr Adams also said in Newry last night that Sinn Fein would be in inclusive talks and there would be a negotiated settlement.
Mr McGuinness said there had been continuing "soundings" between British Labour and Sinn Fein. The party formally wrote to Labour on Monday seeking "urgent communication and discussions". There had been no response so far, added Mr Pat Doherty.
Said Mr McGuinness: "I believe new kings make new laws. I believe that there have been quite a number of soundings between leading Labour representatives in the course of recent weeks which, indicate on their behalf a recognition of the serious mistakes that were made by the Major administration.
I have listened with considerable interest to a number of interviews that Mo Mowlam has made where she identified the need for confidence-building measures, and specified the issues of prisoners, of marching, of the RUC, and a recognition on her part that the status quo cannot be allowed to remain."
Mr McGuinness said the feedback from Mid-Ulster indicated that "quite a number of SDLP" supporters would vote for him. He also believed that "quite a number" of UUP supporters were reluctant to support the sitting MP, the Rev William McCrea, which was further enhancing his prospects in Mid-Ulster.
Mr Pat Doherty was sanguine about Senator Edward Kennedy's implicit warning that the absence of an immediate IRA ceasefire could jeopardise President Clinton's interest in the peace process. Mr Doherty believed the US administration was lo king forward to the potential of a new British government responding in a much more meaningful way than the outgoing government responded".
Meanwhile, Mr Campbell laid the DUP had proved it was the "dependable force of unionism for the next millennium". The UUP's Mr Ross, an MP for 23 years, was "totally confident" of regaining his seat in East Derry and described Mr Campbell's intervention as an "extra irritant".
The DUP secretary Mr Nigel Dodds acknowledged that running an agreed candidate in West Belfast would boost Mr Adams's prospects but said it was "incumbent on the two parties to allow West Belfast's 7,000 unionists to vote for a unionist".
The UUP is understood to have agreed to step aside to give the Rev William McCrea of the DUP a free run in Mid Ulster as a tradeoff for not standing against the UUP MP Mr Ken Maginnis in Fermanagh South Tyrone.
