Trimble accused on decision to enter talks with Sinn Fein

The Ulster Unionist Party leader, Mr David Trimble, faced criticism for his decision to enter talks both from outside and within his own party, with the harshest comments come from one of his own party's MPs. The West Tyrone MP, Mr William Thompson, who has been openly hostile to any deal that allowed Sinn Fein into talks, accused Mr Trimble and his negotiating team of a "complete capitulation" on the issue of paramilitary disarmament.

Mr Thompson said many unionists would be bewildered by the decision to enter a negotiating process that included Sinn Fein when no IRA weapons had been handed over. He said he was "constantly reviewing his position" as to whether he might now resign from the UUP.

He could give no guarantees that he or others in the party who were of similar view would remain in the UUP.

"If at the end of the day the Ulster Unionist Party is going to change its policies that it has always held, then there comes a time when all of us would have to consider our position," he said.

He said that Sinn Fein now controlled the talks, and Mr Trimble was in the process of "making compromises". He believed a "considerable number of people" within the UUP agreed with his views.

He said the reality was that the IRA had no intention of giving up any guns. "I am not saying I have lost confidence in the leadership of David Trimble. I am saying a mistake has been made and the sooner we are out of those talks the better."

The DUP leader, the Rev Ian Paisley, condemned Mr Trimble for remaining in the process. He said he had handed over to Sinn Fein how the future of the union should be determined.

"All of us are concerned about the union, and all the people of Northern Ireland realise that Mr Trimble has taken us down a road he said he would never go down. The union is in the hands of a negotiating body with Sinn Fein at the steering wheel," he said.

The DUP Belfast councillor, Mr Sammy Wilson, said Mr Trimble had betrayed pledges that he would not sit down in talks with Sinn Fein. "But it is even more unforgivable that he treats the unionist electorate like fools by telling them he has won a great victory over IRA/Sinn Fein," he added.

The UK Unionist leader, Mr Robert McCartney, accused the UUP of reneging on every pledge it had made on decommissioning. "I will never join a process designed in accordance with Mo Mowlam's policy to achieve Irish unity," he added.