McNarry ‘has minutes of inter-party talks’
UUP MLA David McNarry
DAVID McNarry has minutes of the top level DUP-UUP meetings which prove that the talks were to discuss closer ties between the parties, a source close to the talks last night told the News Letter.
Monday’s revelation that the talks took place led to significant unhappiness among UUP Assembly members who called a meeting on Wednesday to discuss the issue and after which UUP leader Tom Elliott said that the talks had been “blown out of all proportion”.
Some Ulster Unionist MLAs have privately said that they want to see Mr McNarry disciplined over the incident, something which it is understood has been considered by Mr Elliott.
Yesterday Ulster Unionist MLAs were under instructions not to discuss the case with the media.
However, a source close to the inter-party talks told the News Letter that Mr McNarry had documentation which supported his claims about the talks after some MLAs privately suggested that he was exaggerating what was involved.
The individual also insisted that UUP leader Mr Elliott was fully aware of what was going on.
“David kept the leader appraised at every turn,” he said of the talks, which have being going on since last June.
“He did this with the leader’s authorisation and he was kept informed at every turn.
“There are full minutes of the meetings with details of who was present and what was discussed.
“The meetings are going very positively indeed and I think we will see a lot of progress — they are going to come up with something that will work.”
He added: “It is not logical for two unionist parties that believe roughly the same things and have the same agenda to be opposing each other. They should be fighting the election as partners.”
Writing in today’s News Letter, DUP strategist Lee Reynolds appeals for a rational debate within unionism about the issue of unionist unity.
He says that both parties should debate the issue without preconditions and adds that discussing the idea of closer links between the two main unionist parties is something which should hold no fears for anyone in Northern Ireland.
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Weather for Belfast
Tuesday 29 May 2012
Today
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