McCrea urges UUP to collapse the `failed' Belfast Agreement

As talks aimed at breaking the political deadlock took place in London yesterday the Rev William McCrea of the DUP called on the Ulster Unionist Party to "stop pussy-footing around with Sinn Fein" and collapse the Belfast Agreement.

Mr McCrea said the British and Irish governments had summoned the UUP, Sinn Fein and the SDLP to Downing Street to "patch up and pull together a failed agreement". Mr David Trimble and the UUP leadership were being pressurised by Mr Tony Blair and Mr Bertie Ahern to accept another appeasement package to nationalism, he added.

"The Belfast Agreement has failed because it was a one-way road of concessions to IRA terrorists," said Mr McCrea. "The British government and the interfering Dublin Government have both accepted decommissioning will not take place by May 22nd, having yielded to IRA propaganda and pressure and there by letting the Provos off the hook."

He claimed Mr Trimble would have abandoned the demand for IRA decommissioning but for pressure from the DUP. "No one can deny that the agreement is obnoxious to all true unionists and has not got the confidence of the vast majority of the unionist population," Mr McCrea added.

Mr Peter Weir, the anti-agreement unionist MLA who lost the UUP whip, said he did not expect any breakthrough to emerge from the talks at Hillsborough tomorrow hosted by Mr Blair and Mr Ahern. "It may suit Tony Blair to be here on Thursday rather than in London for the mayoral election. I think this is a case of the governments wanting to be seen to be doing something," he added.

Mr Weir said he did not expect any move from republicans on decommissioning, and without movement Mr Trimble would not be allowed room to manoeuvre by the majority in the UUP and its ruling body, the Ulster Unionist Council.

The Workers' Party president, Mr Tom French, welcomed yesterday's talks. He added, however, that if the deadlock were to be broken all Assembly parties which endorsed the Good Friday accord should be involved.