Trimble to consult local party members

The North's First Minister, Mr David Trimble, is embarking on what the Ulster Unionist Party is describing as a series of "four mini-conventions" to assess "grass roots" views of the current political situation.

Ahead of critical Assembly votes paving the way for devolution in March, which may determine whether the Belfast Agreement will be fully implemented, Mr Trimble and other senior UUP members will meet the party's MPs, Assembly members, councillors, officers and members in the coming two weeks.

As the March deadline approaches for the full transfer of power to the Assembly, Mr Trimble said it was important to hear the views and concerns of party members.

"I want to find out if they, like me, believe unionism has done everything it signed up to in the agreement. There is concern within the wider community about the continuation of beatings and shootings against the backdrop of prisoner releases, demilitarisation and the Patten Commission. Feelings within the unionist community in particular need to be assessed," he said.

He added that the UUP had been courageous. "It has demonstrated enormous flexibility and patience in order to make the agreement work. The agreement, if implemented in full, should create the conditions for lasting peace and stability.

"But, as the Prime Minister has said, it won't work unless it all works." Mr Billy Hutchinson of the Progressive Unionist Party, which is linked to the UVF, warned yesterday that if a compromise was not found between unionism and Sinn Fein on the disarmament question, unionism would lose most.

He also warned that loyalists would not tolerate an Anglo-Irish Agreement "mark two". In an interview with the Belfast Tele- graph, he said he feared loyalists could react to any new accord with a "more sophisticated" campaign in which tourists in the Republic and the general southern economy would be targeted.