Up to 14 branches have quit the Ulster Democratic Party because of their opposition to the Good Friday Agreement, it was claimed today.
The UDP is the political wing of the Ulster Defence Association, the largest of the loyalist paramilitary groups in Northern Ireland.
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The branches are in south east Antrim and north Antrim, which includes Derry, according to the party's chairman John White.
He said today: "Obviously with so many areas affected by this decision there is a split in the party. It is a worrying development, but it's something which has been simmering for sometime."
The UDP has no representatives at the Stormont Assembly, but its leader Gary McMichael, a councillor in Lisburn, Co Antrim, is a member of the Northern Ireland Civic Forum.
There are an estimated 50 branches in the UDP, according to Mr White.
Security chiefs believe five of the six UDA battalions no longer back the peace process.
But Mr White insisted that the decision by the UDP branches to leave would not affect the UDA's formal support of party policy, which supports the Agreement.
PA