Unionists demand Sinn Fein expulsion from Executive

Ulster unionists will accept nothing less than Sinn Féin’s expulsion from Northern Ireland's power-sharing Executive, it was …

Ulster unionists will accept nothing less than Sinn Féin’s expulsion from Northern Ireland's power-sharing Executive, it was claimed tonight.

With both Irish and British Governments considering Mr David Trimble's demand for action against republicans before the end of the month, Ulster Unionist MP Mr Jeffrey Donaldson warned that decisive action must be taken.

"The idea that we can simply return to business as usual in September is a non-starter.

"If the (British) government doesn't take action then we will take action to remove Sinn Féin/IRA from the government of Northern Ireland by one means or another," he said.

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Unionists are demanding sanctions for what they regard as a series of breaches of the IRA ceasefire, including alleged terrorist activity in Colombia, the break-in at a Special Branch Office in Belfast and orchestration of street violence.

But a Sinn Féin spokesman warned British prime minister Mr Blair that he had no basis for imposing sanctions against his party.

"Tony Blair stood in front of the media and said he was convinced the Sinn Féin leadership was entirely committed to this process.

"It would be contradictory to introduce some form of illegal actions against Sinn Féin to settle a crisis that is not within the process but which is a crisis within unionism," he said.

The leader of the SDLP, Mr Mark Durkan urged the pro-Agreement parties to work together with the governments to deal with fears in the community.

"What we have to do is to respond to this effectively and I don't believe we will respond to them by engineering a crisis in the political institutions," he said.

Sources said Mr Blair would take time to reflect on the concerns raised by Mr Trimble.

Sources claimed tonight that British prime minister Mr Blair was working on a plan to address the crisis of confidence among unionists. This is expected to be made public before Westminster rises for its summer break on July 24th.

After yesterday's crisis talks at Hillsborough Castle, Mr Blair hinted he might be prepared to go some way to meet the Ulster Unionist leader Mr Trimble's demands.

He said: "Transition means full transition from violence to democracy. Now we have got therefore to look at the ways we make that clear, that we lay down the clear principles that we have to abide by and what happens if people don't abide by them."

Mr Trimble, who has stated he is prepared to resign from the Executive, today welcomed Mr Blair's comments but said he would judge him by his actions.

"What we need now is for the prime minister to translate this understanding into tangible action. He said he would `declare his position before Parliament rises this summer'.

PA