Trimble wins Unionist vote as path towards devolution continues

The Ulster Unionist leader, David Trimble, has won the conditional support of the Ulster Unionist Council to proceed on to the next stage of the peace process. The final vote was 480 in favour and 349 against, giving Mr Trimble a comfortable margin, although the Unionist Council's acceptance of the Mitchell proposals is conditional. The Council will give its final verdict in February, depending on whether the IRA starts to decommission its arms. Mr Trimble has put his political future on the line, threatening to resign if the IRA does not begin to disarm. During the post-vote press conference Mr Trimble warned that the Ulster Unionists had done their bit and now it was over to Sinn Féin and the IRA.

The schedule is now as follows: a new power-sharing Executive will be established at Stormont on Monday, with legislation passing through Westminster on Tuesday and Wednesday. Powers will then be transferred from London to Belfast on Thursday. However, Mr Trimble will face numerous challenges before that transfer on December 2.

He will be hoping that the Council's endorsement will give political cover to the three or four assembly members who threaten to oppose him next week. They can now say they are reluctantly backing him in the face of what is a new party policy. One of those Assemblymen, Roy Beggs Junior said this afternoon that the new situation presented him with a dilemma. The significance of this is that the numbers game could be critical at Stormont next week, with just one extra signature from a disaffected Ulster Unionist for a potentially divisive DUP motion seeking to exclude Sinn Féin from office.

Before that point is reached though, there is certain to be a major row over the motion that would see Seamus Mallon back as Deputy First Minister on the basis that his resignation was never formally accepted by the Assembly. So while Mr Trimble may be over the main hurdle, he still has some fences to clear before power is devolved.

The Council meeting began at 10am this morning with a standing ovation from a majority of the delegates David Trimble who made a passionate plea to the party to place their faith in his leadership. The campaign to back the recommendations was given a significant boost when the party's deputy leader, John Taylor, earlier pledged his backing for the deal. Mr Taylor said that he had received two private and confidential assurances from the Northern Secretary, Peter Mandelson. He told the Press Association that he was now certain that Unionists would not be trapped into a system of government with Sinn Féin without IRA decommissioning. Following his announcement, the leader of the Democratic Unionist Party, Ian Paisley, said that Mr Taylor's stance could cost him his Westminster seat.