Ulster Unionists have denied that a substitute First Minister will be put in place if David Trimble follows through with his threat to resign next week. The UUP leader has said that he will resign on 1 July if progress is not made on the issue of IRA decommissioning. Lagan Valley MP Jeffrey Donaldson has said that he is not aware of any such plan for a caretaker or substitute First Minister.
The Good Friday Agreement sceptic said that such a plan would not make sense. Mr Donaldson, who is also a member of the Ulster Unionist negotiating team added: "For the resignation to be effective, the position should remain vacant after July 1 for the six week period before the Assembly is recalled. That gives us maximum leverage in our attempts to force Republicans to decommission their weapons". Speaking to the PA news agency, Mr Donaldson added that they were now looking for more than words. " We are talking about actual decommissioning. Nothing short of product can prevent David's resignation," he said.
DUP minister Gregory Campbell has ridiculed the idea of a substitute first minister. The East Derry MP likened it to his party's policy of rotating ministers on the executive. Mr Campbell added that if the suggestions are accurate then it would be hypocritical of the Ulster Unionists to go that route having criticised the DUP. He added, "I look forward to seeing if they follow the DUP lead on yet another issue, but I think the electorate would be very clued in to what they would be doing".
If the Trimble resignation goes ahead, the Northern Secretary could be faced with the possibility of Assembly elections. This would be an unattractive option given recent election returns in favour of Reverend Ian Paisley's DUP party and Sinn Féin. However, Dr John Reid is optimistic about the future. Speaking to BBC Radio Four today Dr Reid said that he would do his best to see that there is progress. "This is a process which will continue. It has been going on four or five years. In its roots, it goes back up to 10 or 15 years and it's addressing a problem that goes back somewhere between 80 and several hundred years," he added.
