Ulster Unionists were expected to approve a package of party reforms instigated by the party leadership at an extraordinary general meeting in Belfast last night. Dan Keenan, Northern News Editor, reports.
Sir Reg Empey is seeking the rule changes which will effectively mean the end of the 800-member Ulster Unionist Council, the governing body of the party.
Instead, members are being asked to approve a series of constitutional reforms which will centralise party control and curtail the power of constituency associations to act independently of headquarters.
The UUP will also move closer to a one-member-one-vote style of internal democracy, thus ending the ability of a few dozen members to summon Ulster Unionist Council meetings to challenge the leadership.
It was this tactic which was used effectively by former UUP MP Jeffrey Donaldson and others to confront the policy direction and leadership of David Trimble before they defected to the Rev Ian Paisley's DUP following the 2003 Assembly elections.
More than a dozen Ulster Unionist Council meetings were called in opposition to powersharing with Sinn Féin at Stormont which effectively stymied the Trimble leadership.
The party will follow last night's egm with its annual conference in Belfast today. Sir Reg is expected to rally delegates with a call to fight back against the DUP which dominates unionism at both Stormont and Westminster. But his calls for unity and his attempt to re-establish a clear sense of purpose was clouded somewhat last night by the call by a senior colleague for the party to consider quitting the Executive for a role in opposition.
Basil McCrea said the announcement of the budget, programme for government and the investment strategy for Northern Ireland on Thursday were a "sham" and he criticised the Assembly's lack of a formal opposition.
Mr McCrea's call for his party to walk away from the two ministerial positions it holds has the support of at least some of the party's 18 Assembly members.
SDLP Minister Margaret Ritchie has been invited to address the conference on urban regeneration issues. Although this reflects her position as Minister for Social Development, her appearance as a guest speaker at an Ulster Unionist conference will be of wider significance.
The two UUP ministers on the executive have supported Ms Ritchie against the DUP, and Finance Minister Peter Robinson in particular, over the manner in which she cut funding for a loyalist conflict transformation initiative.
Although Sir Reg's conference address was still being worked on last night, it is understood he may well refer to the SDLP Minister's claims that Mr Robinson is seeking to dominate the Executive and to pressure Ministers from both the SDLP and the UUP.
The party leadership is placing some emphasis on the reform of the party's structures as it seeks to rebuild after the setbacks of the disastrous Westminster election, in which it lost all its seats, except for North Down, and its failure to confront the growth in unionist support for the DUP in last March's Assembly poll.