The Ulster Unionists will not put forward a candidate for first or deputy first minister in any new Assembly, unless there are "acts of completion" from republicans first, writes Dan Keenan, Northern News Editor.
Mr David Trimble's warning effectively blocks the formation of any Executive following the election, which is still planned for May 29th despite the continuing uncertainty.
He said the UUP would not be party to the lifting of suspension of the political institutions formed under the Belfast Agreement, without "removal of the paramilitaries from the scene". "There can be no room in government for any party that has a private army," he said.
"We will not be putting forward a candidate for the post of first or deputy first minister after the elections, neither will we be voting for anybody that does."
Mr Trimble called for the IRA's statement to the British and Irish governments to be published. That statement, he said, must be "deficient" if it has been in the hands of the two governments for some two weeks and is still the subject of calls for clarification.
He insisted that Mr Gerry Adams continues to claim he does not speak for the IRA, and that the Sinn Féin leader put further conditions on future IRA decommissioning. "Decommissioning is an obligation under the agreement and should have been completed three years ago," he said. Without the ending of all paramilitary activity and the winding up of the "private army", "decommissioning by itself is simply a hollow gesture".
He said throughout the peace process it was the UUP which had "dragged republicans towards a totally democratic future", and accused them of wanting to have it both ways. "This is no longer possible," Mr Trimble went on.
He warned London not to agree to a fudge on these issues, but claimed his party had not stuck with the process thus far "to see the process and the opportunity for a stable Northern Ireland sacrificed".
Publication of the IRA statement would allow voters to make up their own minds. He said the IRA statement and Mr Adams's speech on Sunday "place the ending of the conflict far into the future".
"Both would result in Sinn Féin participation on \ Policing Board while the IRA continues - a result which has been previously described by the Prime Minister as an absurdity." Ulster Unionists would consider the situation "after the IRA speaks and acts", he said. If this happened he would decide if he needed to "consult his party further" - meaning the calling of another Ulster Unionist Council.
He said that following what he had heard "there is no basis for the lifting of suspension".
Quoting Mr Tony Blair's call for elections to take place in a positive environment, Mr Trimble said that no such climate existed. However he said he believed that "republicans are gradually coming to the point of no return. They are being forced to take steps towards exclusively peaceful and democratic means." He said there was a final opportunity to get things right, "and this party will not flinch from taking whatever decisions are needed to achieve the prize of permanent peace and stability".
Speaking with some 17 pro-agreement Assembly members and candidates behind him, Mr Trimble said it was now up to Mr Blair to explain how an Assembly would function after a May 29th election, given the UUP's decision on a new Executive.
"We are not going to buy into a fudge on this," he repeated. "The job has to be done properly, especially with regard to continuing paramilitary activity."