Ulster Unionists may withdraw from multi-party talks aimed at ending direct rule and re-establishing the Stormont institutions, Mr David Trimble warned yesterday.
The warning of stringent and punitive action was issued following an agreement between the British and Irish governments to maintain the North-South bodies while the Assembly and Executive are suspended. The two governments insist their accord is a caretaker measure designed to protect the six North-South bodies, which between them have an annual budget of some €140 million and a staff of more than 700. They insist there is no conspiracy against unionists.
A Stormont source said the measure was neither expansionist nor an example of joint authority by Dublin and London over Northern Ireland.
If unionists need clarification on this or any other point, they could get it, the source added.
Ulster Unionists insist they have no problem with the cross-Border bodies. But they are emphatic the measures adopted by the governments amount to a "shoddy little piece of paper" that breaks the spirit of the Belfast Agreement.
The new treaty allows the bodies to continue without input from the Northern parties.
Mr Trimble issued his threat following a meeting with the Northern Secretary, Mr Paul Murphy, at Castle Buildings, Stormont, yesterday. A source close to Mr Trimble said party members were "extremely hacked off", adding that a meeting of the Ulster Unionist Assembly members yesterday was "one of the nastiest yet".
A meeting between the UUP and the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr Cowen, is scheduled for tomorrow.