Mr Trimble: decommissioning must start by end of month
A furious row over British government plans to give Sinn Fein MPs access to Westminster overshadowed yesterday's Downing Street meeting, at which Mr David Trimble again stipulated the end of January as the deadline for a start to IRA decommissioning.
Northern Ireland's First Minister emerged from a 90-minute meeting with the British Prime Minister, Mr Blair, insistent that if the decommissioning process has not begun by then, republicans would be in "default", which would see the Executive and other institutions of the Belfast Agreement suspended.
It is believed the British government has begun consideration of the necessary contingency plans should direct rule have to be reinstated temporarily.
As tensions increased ahead of next month's reconvened meeting of the Ulster Unionist Council, Mr Trimble reacted angrily to confirmation that British ministers will propose a parliamentary rule change to give Sinn Fein MPs access to the House of Commons, and to receive office allowances, without taking their seats or swearing the oath of allegiance. Mr Trimble learned of the move from the Northern Ireland Secretary, Mr Peter Mandelson, shortly before he arrived for talks with Mr Blair.
The plan was also condemned by Mr Andrew Mackay, the shadow Northern Ireland Secretary, as "at the very least decidedly premature and mistaken" ahead of IRA decommissioning.
More than £100,000 sterling could be added to Sinn Fein's coffers, should Mr Gerry Adams and Mr Martin McGuinness decide to draw their allowances under the proposed new dispensation.
After a consultation period of unspecified length with other parties, the leader of the Commons, Mrs Margaret Beckett, is expected to table a resolution in the Commons. Despite insistence by the Northern Ireland Office that no decision has been made as to timing, there was intense speculation last night that the resolution could be tabled as early as next week, for debate the week after.
The move, foreshadowed in press leaks last month, could thus coincide with the introduction of promised new "dual mandate" legislation permitting Dail deputies to serve also in the Northern Ireland Assembly or in the House of Commons.
Mr Trimble regards both developments as "without" the terms of the agreements reached during the Mitchell Review last November. However, even with determined Conservative opposition, the government is certain to carry the day once it commits itself to a Commons vote.
One government insider said last night that the move was "wholly consistent with the changed political circumstances," and that he could not understand how unionists could agree to share power with Sinn Fein in Belfast but object to their presence at Westminster.
Mr Mackay said the decision presumably would mean that Mr Adams and Mr McGuinness would not only be eligible for all allowances available to MPs, but would also receive additional funding to assist opposition parties with secretarial and research costs. "That would mean the taxpayer funding Sinn Fein as a party at Westminster at a time when the IRA have failed to decommission their illegally held arms and explosives as they are obliged to do."
Decommissioning - and the political consequences if it fails to happen - dominated much of the meeting between Mr Blair and Mr Trimble, attended also by Mr Mandelson and Ulster Unionists Mr John Taylor, Mr Ken Maginnis and Sir Reg Empey. Afterward Mr Trimble said the UUP had done everything required of it and that "the onus lies exclusively with the paramilitaries to implement the agreement and honour what was understood by us all at the end of the Mitchell review."
Mr Trimble made it clear that he expected a statement by Gen de Chastelain confirming a start to the decommissioning process "in January". And in a retort to criticism from Mr Adams about his decision to reconvene the UUC next month, he added: "If that is done, then there'll be no need for anyone to whinge about February."
Earlier yesterday Mr Mandelson briefed the Cabinet on the latest state of play. While acknowledging "difficult days ahead" over policing and decommissioning, he said "there was a real sense of joy that devolution is happening."