The Ulster Unionist leader, Mr David Trimble, last night demanded that dissidents in his party stop undermining him. Mr Trimble will discuss the political crisis in the North with the British Prime Minister, Mr Blair, today.
Mr Trimble urged anti-agreement activists to accept the Ulster Unionist Council's decision to try to achieve Provisional IRA disarmament by banning Sinn Fein from North-South Ministerial Council meetings.
Some anti-agreement UUP sources have said the Government's decision to meet the Sinn Fein Health Minister, Ms Bairbre de Brun, in Enniskillen last week has shown the failure of Mr Trimble's strategy.
However, the UUP leader said: "If there are those who continue to oppose party policy on this matter, then they should ask themselves what type of future do they see for themselves in the party? The party has the right to take decisions and the right to expect them to be accepted."
He said leading anti-agreement activists had said they supported a cross-community Assembly at Stormont, which meant the differences of opinion within the UUP were merely tactical and there was therefore no justification for continued opposition.
"The vast majority of unionist and nationalist people want the agreement to work," Mr Trimble told the North Down Ulster Unionist Party Association in Bangor. "They want to see devolution working and decommissioning taking place. Our strategy is designed to deliver both of the objectives."
The Sinn Fein president, Mr Gerry Adams, has said Mr Blair must stand up to anti-agreement unionists and move forward on demilitarisation, criminal justice and police reform. "The political process can be saved but this will require a huge change of approach by London," said Mr Adams.
"The British government has a crucial role. Mr Trimble has developed his approach and painted himself into a corner because the British government gave him the space to do so."
He said the issues on which anti-agreement unionists resisted change were the responsibility of the British government. "These include policing, demilitarisation and criminal justice, and the failure of Mr Mandelson to act as he is empowered in the face of the First Minister's derogation of the duties of his office.
"The crisis within unionism will only be resolved when an element of political unionism emerges to show consistent and positive leadership, and with the political will to face and the strategy to face down the rejectionists." Mr Adams said business leaders, trade unionists, and the clergy could not blame politicians if they were not prepared to help create a pro-agreement climate.