The British government overwhelmingly defeated a Conservative motion in the House of Commons last night calling for an end to the early release of paramilitary prisoners "until there has been substantial and verifiable decommissioning".
After three hours of an Opposition debate on decommissioning and the release of prisoners, the Tory motion was defeated by 376 votes to 142, a decisive government majority of 234. A second vote on a government amendment to "move urgently to implement every aspect" of the Belfast Agreement, which was forced by unionist MPs, was carried by 352 votes to seven, a government majority of 345.
The debate came after a round of meetings at Downing Street between the Prime Minister, Mr Tony Blair, and the Deputy First Minister, Mr Seamus Mallon. The Prime Minister also met Sinn Fein's chief negotiator, Mr Martin McGuinness, in an attempt to narrow the gap between the Northern Ireland parties on North-South implementation bodies and membership of the executive.
Emerging from an hour of talks with the Prime Minister that appeared to have made little headway, Mr McGuinness said he had made the case "very forcibly" that progress on both areas must be made before Christmas.
He condemned the First Minister, Mr David Trimble, saying he was in breach of the Belfast Agreement in his failure to establish an executive committee, "the failure to establish a North-South ministerial council, and a failure and reneging on an implementation body".
After his meeting with Mr Blair, which also lasted an hour, Mr Mallon said the setbacks at Stormont last week could be overcome and that both the Prime Minister and the Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, wanted the outstanding matters resolved "as quickly as possible".
However, the Prime Minister was said to be feeling "exasperated" and "frustrated" by the lack of progress.
In the Commons, the Shadow Northern Ireland secretary, Mr Andrew Mackay, rejected suggestions by Labour and the Liberal Democrats that the Conservatives were in danger of undermining the bipartisan approach. He said the Tories could not issue a "blank cheque" to the government and decline to speak out against the continued early release of paramilitary prisoners when there had been no progress on decommissioning.
More than 200 prisoners had benefited from early release since the Belfast Agreement was signed seven months ago, but not one ounce of Semtex had been handed in. Violence had been repudiated, but that had to include decommissioning, and yet intimidation, beatings and exiles were still a part of everyday life in the North.
The Northern Ireland Secretary, Dr Mo Mowlam, criticised the motion pointing out that the Tories had accepted there was no security evidence to support speculation that the IRA, UVF and UDA cease-fires were not being maintained.