Alex Maskey
No future plans from unionists
The Ulster Unionist Executive has passed a motion calling on dissident Lagan Valley MP Jeffrey Donaldson to resume the party whip at Westminster and to accept the pro-agreement stance of the party.
The motion was passed at a meeting of the Executive at its party headquarters in East Belfast.
Mr Donaldson left the building accompanied by two other anti-agreement members, newly-elected MLA Arlene Foster and former East Derry MP Willie Ross.
He told reporters he believed he was being blamed for the poor performance of the party at the Assembly election, but that he was not making any decisions today about his future position in the party.
Four people abstained in the vote, among them the Belfast Councillor Jim Rodgers.
Still no plan from Donaldson or DUP - Maskey
Earlier, South Belfast Sinn Féin Assembly member Alex Maskey said that two weeks on from the election, neither Jeffrey Donaldson nor the DUP have yet produced a credible plan for the future.
He said the British and Irish governments now have a crucial role to play in all of this. The two governments must move ahead with a pro-Agreement agenda and make it clear to the rejectionists that they will not be allowed to block forward movement, Mr Maskey said.
He said Mr Donaldson and the DUP needed to recognise that the vast majority of people who voted in the election voted to support pro-Agreement parties, and that they returned a majority of pro-Agreement MLAs to the Assembly.
