Northern Secretary says accord to remain 'fundamentally unchanged'

Northern Ireland Office meetings: The Northern Secretary, Mr Paul Murphy, said the Belfast Agreement will remain "fundamentally unchanged" because the majority of the electorate supported it.

Mr Murphy, who will meet with the DUP today, said nothing could alter the principles of power-sharing, North-South relationships or consent which were central to politics in Northern Ireland. "The agreement says we should review the operation, the workings of the Good Friday agreement.

"What it gives is an opportunity to the parties in the Assembly to talk about the issues that affect them," he said.

The DUP has insisted that the Belfast Agreement must be renegotiated to create a new settlement acceptable to unionists.

Mr Murphy, who met separately with Sinn Féin, the Ulster Unionists and the SDLP at Hillsborough Castle on Saturday, will write to all the parties tomorrow to ask what aspects of the agreement they want to debate when it is reviewed in the coming weeks.

In a widely anticipated move, the Northern Secretary yesterday resisted nationalist demands to lift suspension of the Assembly.

He said it would be highly unlikely that the parties could agree to form an Executive within the six-week time period necessary.

Failure to secure an agreement would automatically trigger fresh elections.

Both Sinn Féin president, Mr Gerry Adams, and the SDLP leader, Mr Mark Durcan, had urged the British government to restore devolution as soon as possible. Mr Murphy said: "I don't think we should unsuspend and restore it now. I don't think that would be wise.

"Everybody knows that if we restored the Assembly tomorrow then we would have six weeks according to the rules to establish a government.

"It doesn't take a political genius to work out it's highly unlikely."

Despite the sense of political crisis following the success of the DUP, which is refusing to negotiate with Sinn Féin, Mr Murphy said he took comfort from the fact that all four main parties wanted devolution.

"The DUP and Sinn Féin are now better represented in the Assembly, but with those mandates comes responsibilities," he told the BBC.

"If they really want devolution back, they are going to have to talk with me and each other to try and sort out how they resolve government here in Northern Ireland."

Speaking after his meeting with Mr Murphy at Hillsborough on Saturday, Mr Adams said it was time for the "unfinished business" of the Belfast Agreement to be completed.

The SDLP leader, Mr Durkan, whose party lost six seats in the elections, said results made it more difficult for the agreement but insisted that it was not destroyed.

"Parties who have an increased mandate must show responsibility to break the deadlock," he said.

His comments were echoed by the Ulster Unionist leader, Mr David Trimble, who said it was a "huge overstatement" to say the Belfast Agreement was dead.

"There is still a majority of the population in favour of the agreement," he said.