The UUP leader, Mr David Trimble, has refused to confirm reports that the party's six dissident MPs who are opposed to the Belfast Agreement will be prevented from standing for election to a new Northern Ireland assembly, reports Rachel Donnelly, in London.
Mr Trimble attended a meeting of the UUP's parliamentary party at the Commons last night and afterwards he insisted he did not want to comment on the reports. Earlier, he had said the party was not split over the Belfast Agreement and that at the meeting the UUP members had discussed the agreement just briefly.