Sir Reg, who sits on Belfast City Council, said that he was pleased that a key council committee had on Friday voted to agree a proposal for a homecoming parade – but said that the decision of Sinn Fein and SDLP councillors to vote against it was disappointing.

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The Alliance Party has said that it will support the homecoming parade when at the full meeting of Belfast City Council on Monday, meaning that the proposal will be passed if all of the unionist councillors attend or if nationalists abstain or vote for it.

Sir Reg – who was the first politician to come forward in support of the News Letter's Welcome Home The Heroes campaign – last night said: "I'm pleased that it went through, but I'm not pleased that it had to go through on a split vote like that."

Both Sinn Fein and the SDLP have said they are opposed to the concept of homecoming parades, although SDLP councillors on other councils have supported the idea.

But it is Sinn Fein who have been most vocal in their opposition, describing homecoming parades as an "insult to all nationalists".

Sir Reg said of Sinn Fein's stance on the homecoming parade and other issues: "You'd think by their behaviour in recent weeks that they were doing everything in their power to persuade people, particularly unionist people, that we aren't at a stage where we can.

"We are demonstrating that we cannot fulfil the role that we have already been given without adding to it – I think Sinn Fein is making a case for it not being devolved."

Meanwhile, Sinn Fein West Belfast MLA Paul Maskey has defended his party's decision to vote against the homecoming parade.

Insisting that his party's position was not in conflict with its support for parades featuring members of the IRA or to commemorate the Easter Rising, he told BBC Radio Ulster's Stephen Nolan Show: "Many hundreds and thousands of men, women and children have been killed in this unjust war.

"I think it's disgusting and disgraceful that Belfast City Council will be hosting a ceremony for them in this day and age."

He said he did not recognise that the soldiers are brave: "I don't think anyone can be brave when you're dropping bombs from the sky."

But West Belfast DUP councillor Diane Dodds, who has been involved in lengthy discussions with the Ministry of Defence over the planned November parade, stressed that supporting the soldiers was different to supporting the wars.

"These brave men are operating under orders and their work deserves to be recognised," she said.