A meeting scheduled to take place between the Secretary of State and the Democratic Unionist Party on Tuesday afternoon was cancelled at the last minute, to the fury of DUP representatives.

Speaking on Tuesday afternoon DUP Security spokesperson Gregory Campbell said his party, which is deeply opposed to the Good Friday Agreement, was being ignored by both governments.

Mr Campbell claimed that his party, which he said represented the majority of the unionist community, deserved to see the latest proposals on policing and should be treated with the same courtesy and respect as the other political parties who were allowed to see the policing proposals at the weekend. He said he saw no reason why the Alliance Party, the Ulster Unionist Party, Sinn Féin and the IRA, according to his sources, had access to the documents and the DUP did not.

Speaking on Radio Ulster on Tuesday, 7 August, Mr Campbell said: “We want to hear what others have heard, what the policing plan is, the legislation and we want to discuss the issue of amnesty for those on the run and what is happening to the RUC.”

Meanwhile the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) held an executive meeting on Tuesday morning to further discuss the government’s way forward package and the IRA’s proposals on decommissioning.

Speaking afterwards Mr Trimble said there had been no developments of a “positive nature” since Monday and that to date although the move by the IRA was “significant” it had to be followed by actual decommissioning. (AMcE)