A dissident Ulster Unionist MP has warned that Mr David Trimble cannot sell any proposal to his party which would allow Sinn Fein into an executive without prior decommissioning by the Provisional IRA.
Mr Willie Thompson was speaking as his party leader prepared for a meeting at Stormont today with Sinn Fein president, Mr Gerry Adams. The discussions are part of Senator George Mitchell's review into the implementation of the Belfast Agreement.
Mr Thompson said the agreement was "on its last legs". He predicted Mr Trimble would try "some fancy footwork" in the coming weeks to persuade his party to form an executive with Sinn Fein, but these moves would be resisted.
He believed separate secret UUP and Sinn Fein meetings last weekend were no coincidence. "My reading of the current situation is that the two parties held these meetings to sell something and it didn't succeed," he said.
"David Trimble is trying to carry his Assembly party into an executive ahead of decommissioning, but I do not think they can go there because of pressure from the electorate. Clearly, the unionist people feel they have been fooled and are moving away from the agreement."
Mr Thompson said his party leader in recent interviews had been concentrating on the sequencing of forming an executive and a start to decommissioning.
"When you look at those comments, he is not really advocating jumping together. When he talks about sequencing, what he actually seems to be advocating is unionists jumping first without any indication that republicans will follow."
Senator Mitchell returned to the North yesterday for a new round of talks. He chaired a meeting between the SDLP, the Progressive Unionists and the Ulster Democratic Party. He also chaired a meeting between the PUP, UDP, Alliance Party and the Women's Coalition.
The SDLP deputy leader, Mr Seamus Mallon, said he detected a change of mood among the pro-agreement parties. "I sense a realisation that there is nowhere else to go except to pursue and implement this agreement," he said.
Mr David Adams of the UDP, said he was "more hopeful than optimistic" that a solution could be found.