The DUP deputy leader, Mr Peter Robinson, said that yesterday had witnessed the collapse of the UUP's stance on no guns, no government. He urged the UUP ruling body, the Ulster Unionist Council, to sack Mr Trimble as party leader.
"The Ulster Unionist Council either have to ditch their leader or they have to embrace Gerry Adams. It is a clear choice that they will have," he said.
Mr Robinson said Sinn Fein's expressed commitment to peace in its statement yesterday was worthless.
"It means nothing. It is actions that the people of Northern Ireland want and, I hope, that the Ulster Unionist Council will also be looking for."
Mr Robinson said, were the executive to be formed, the DUP would take up its two ministries, notwithstanding that Sinn Fein would also have two positions in the Assembly cabinet.
The DUP would act as "ministers in opposition", even though he believed this would lead to an attempt to expel the party.
Mr Norman Boyd, chief whip of the anti-Belfast Agreement Northern Ireland Unionist Party, accused the UUP of breaking its Assembly election pledges on IRA decommissioning.
"This is now a defining moment for unionism. I am asking those in the Ulster Unionist Party who have consistently opposed this to come and join with the rest of the anti-agreement unionists and realign with a policy that will lead the unionist people and replace this agreement which has delivered nothing for the unionist people."
He predicted that the majority of unionists would unite to resist the formation of an executive that would involve Sinn Fein. He urged those in the UUP opposed to the deal to join his party rather than form another grouping.
Mr Jeffrey Donaldson, the anti-agreement UUP MP, expressed dissatisfaction with the Sinn Fein statement. He said he needed certainty that the IRA would decommission. "Words are not enough," he told BBC Radio Ulster last night.
"In this Sinn Fein statement I see a lot of words. I see a lot of repetition of things that have been said in the past. But I don't see a timetable for decommissioning. I don't see a commitment to decommission."
