THE Ulster Unionist Party's pledge to enter talks on June 3rd sits uneasily with its stated commitment to the Union, the UK Unionist Party leader, Mr Bob McCartney, has said.
Speaking yesterday at a news conference in Belfast, Mr McCartney said the talks would be within the Framework Document, which, he believed, provided "Irish unity by instalments".
He said he was standing for election to Westminster on the platform that negotiations within these parameters should be opposed.
He was not against negotiations per se, but new talks must be on "a realistic basis".
In his manifesto, he claimed Northern Ireland was under threat from "without and within". The IRA was destroying lives and property and was operating on the threat of "give us what we demand or we will kill, maim and destroy".
He argued that Sinn Fein and the loyalist parties could not be allowed into talks until there was "a complete and permanent end to all forms of political violence" and a "significant amount" of weapons were handed over as evidence of good faith.
Mr McCartney said his service to his constituents was second to none.
He said he had attended the talks and the forum more than any other party leader.
Meanwhile, his Ulster Unionist Party challenger in North Down, Mr Alan McFarland, accused Mr McCartney of following a negative agenda.
"He has pursued a hardline stance that has won unionism few friends in the rest of the UK or beyond," he said.
"At this election, Robert McCartney is again presenting himself in a moderate light, as a unionist above party politics whose only interest is the people he represents.
"Yet he is also endorsing DUP candidates."