The Ulster Unionist MP, Mr Ken Maginnis, has said there is no truth in reports that a secret meeting of UUP Assembly members in Glasgow at the weekend was an attempt by Mr David Trimble to convince them to compromise on the issue of Sinn Fein's entry into an executive without prior decommissioning.
However, other senior UUP sources said that, while Mr Trimble did not officially put any deal on the table, he had informally "tested the water" for a compromise solution, but the party "had not been willing to run with it".
The sources said that holding a secret meeting outside Northern Ireland and not issuing a formal statement afterwards was an unprecedented move for the party.
The Sinn Fein ardcomhairle also held talks at the weekend focusing on the Mitchell review of the implementation of the Belfast Agreement and the Patten report on policing. A sub-committee was appointed to deal with the Patten report.
Speaking after the meeting, the Sinn Fein vice-president, Mr Pat Doherty, said it had set up a subcommittee to "engage with and monitor the discussion on this issue within the party".
However, any judgment on the Patten report would be set in the context of the Belfast Agreement. Sinn Fein remained committed to the Mitchell review, he said, but added: "Regrettably, at this time we see no evidence to suggest the UUP leadership is serious about ending the crisis. Its tactical engagement has grievously undermined the agreement and heightened the sense of gloom which is currently widespread."
Mr Maginnis attempted to allay fears that the UUP Assembly party had been discussing a change of policy on decommissioning. He insisted there would be no change in policy without the support of the party's ruling executive. The Assembly party would not "tamper with strategy".
He said Mr Trimble had simply wanted to "spend quality time" with his Assembly colleagues, and that tactics in the Assembly, not overall party strategy, had been discussed.
Reports had suggested that one proposal under consideration at the secret meeting involved the UUP forming an executive with Sinn Fein with a guarantee that it would fall if decommissioning did not start within six weeks.
The dissident UUP MP, Mr Willie Ross, said if any of his colleagues were considering this, it would be "a foolish road to explore". Holding secret meetings outside Northern Ireland was unhelpful, he added.
"People wonder what on earth they are up to. People have read all these stories about taking Sinn Fein into government without all weapons being surrendered and then resigning if the weapons are not given up within a certain number of weeks. It has simply increased suspicion."
The dissident UUP MP, Mr Jeffrey Donaldson, said he had been "kept in the dark" about the meeting. "I don't need advisers to tell me the IRA is not committed to peaceful means. I know from the experience of the past summer what the IRA is about.
"Now if people have to go to Scotland to work that out, that is a matter for them. But I think most people in Northern Ireland have figured this out themselves."
