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Ulster Unionist Party intends to leave NI Executive | Ulster Unionist Party intends to leave NI Executive |
(35 minutes later) | |
The Ulster Unionist Party intends to leave the Northern Ireland Executive, the party's leader has said. | The Ulster Unionist Party intends to leave the Northern Ireland Executive, the party's leader has said. |
Mike Nesbitt made the recommendation during a meeting with senior party members. | |
The announcement comes as part of a continuing political row over the existence of the Provisional IRA that followed the murder of Kevin McGuigan Sr. | |
Sinn Féin have accused the UUP of manufacturing a "crisis". | |
Mr Nesbitt said he had chaired a meeting attended by the party's MLAs, MEP, MPs, senior representatives of its councillors association and its party chairman and they had endorsed his recommendation "unanimously. | |
He said the party's ruling body would make a final decision on Saturday and if it was supported then the party would form an opposition. | |
The Northern Ireland Executive is a power-sharing government drawing ministers from the five biggest parties. | |
The Ulster Unionist announcement comes as part of a political row that has followed the Police Service of Northern Ireland's assertion that members of the Provisional IRA were involved in the murder of Mr McGuigan Sr. | |
The 53-year-old ex-IRA man, was killed in what police believe was part of a "fall-out" in republican circles after the murder of former IRA commander Gerard 'Jock' Davison in May. | |
Police said an infrastructure exists at a senior level of the Provisional IRA, but that there was no evidence that Mr McGuigan's murder was sanctioned by that hierarchy. | Police said an infrastructure exists at a senior level of the Provisional IRA, but that there was no evidence that Mr McGuigan's murder was sanctioned by that hierarchy. |
On Sunday, Sinn Féin president Gerry Adams said there was no oreason for armed republican groups, such as the IRA, to exist as the movement was committed to peace. | |
'No trust' | 'No trust' |
Mr Nesbitt said Sinn Féin had "no credibility and we have no trust and without trust we have nothing". | Mr Nesbitt said Sinn Féin had "no credibility and we have no trust and without trust we have nothing". |
"The situation can be fixed but we need some clarity about the IRA and its command structure," he said. | "The situation can be fixed but we need some clarity about the IRA and its command structure," he said. |
He said the DUP and Sinn Féin-led government had been "incapable of delivering positive outcomes". | He said the DUP and Sinn Féin-led government had been "incapable of delivering positive outcomes". |
Mr Nesbitt added that Danny Kennedy, the UUP minister for regional development, would resign if the recommendation was endorsed. | |
Analysis: Chris Page, Political Correspondent | |
It is very likely that the UUP's ruling body will endorse the plan to withdraw from the Executive, given that the party's senior elected representatives are unanimously backing it. | |
The Ulster Unionists have just one minister - Danny Kennedy - out of 13 around the Executive table. | |
So the executive will continue to function without the UUP. | |
But the Ulster Unionists' move will put pressure on the Democratic Unionist Party, the biggest party in the assembly, to take action. | |
The party executive is expected to make a decision on Saturday. | The party executive is expected to make a decision on Saturday. |
"We will then form an opposition and offer the voter an alternative as is normal in any democracy," Mr Nesbitt added. | |
"It has not been an easy decision but we believe it is the right thing to do at this time." | "It has not been an easy decision but we believe it is the right thing to do at this time." |
'Hypocrisy' | |
Sinn Féin's Gerry Kelly accused Mr Nesbitt of electioneering and trying to "create a crisis". He reiterated his party's comments that the "IRA has left the stage". | |
"This was a party political broadcast as opposed to trying to resolve situations here," he said. | |
"This is based in hypocrisy. Last year, he [Mike Nesbitt] walked out with his party and went shoulder-to-shoulder with people connected to paramilitary organisations. | |
"It is very hard to believe what he is trying to do other than compete with the DUP in upcoming elections. | |
"This is old hat, there is nothing new in any of this, he believes that he is making a good move towards the elections. It is electioneering." | |
The Northern Ireland Secretary of State Theresa Villiers said the announcement "was a matter for the Ulster Unionist Party who take their own decisions". | |
"The government remains fully committed to the devolved political institutions and to the implementation of the Stormont House Agreement," she added. | |
"Over the coming days, I shall be continuing my discussions with the parties about fallout from the murder of Kevin McGuigan." |