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UUP has no plans to pull out of Unionist Forum

THE Ulster Unionist Party says it has no plans to follow the TUV's example and withdraw from the Unionist Forum despite growing tensions with the DUP over the redevelopment of the Maze-Long Kesh site.

A statement yesterday from Jim Allister's party said the decision to leave the forum less than six months after it was established had been taken after consulting the TUV "grassroots".

Plans for the Unionist Forum were announced in January after five weeks of violence and disruption

linked to Union flag protests as mainstream unionism faced widespread criticism for failing to show leadership.

At the launch DUP leader Peter Robinson was joined in Stormont's Great Hall by his UUP counterpart Mike Nesbitt as well as Mr Allister and loyalist paramilitary leaders.

The forum was supposed to have the aim of "strengthening British cultural identity" by bringing together different strands of unionism to address flags, poor electoral turnout and educational underachievement.

Its meetings to date have been low key, with most activity centred on a several working groups.

However, the statement from the TUV said the party was "scepti

cal" about the forum's potential to "achieve anything of substance".

"We were never interested in something which was merely an expediency for the moment," the statement read.

"As the months have progressed the various subgroups of the forum have rarely if ever met and public cynicism about the forum and its ability to deliver anything has grown. In fact, most people have probably forgotten about its existence."

The TUV said that after an initial "blaze of publicity" the forum "seemed to quickly disappear".

The statement was also critical of a lack on information surrounding unionist participation in last month's Cardiff talks on parading and the

body set up by the first and deputy first minister to address flags and emblems.

The party also has concerns about the proposed conflict resolution centre at the Maze-Long Kesh site which has caused deep divisions within unionism.

DUP junior minister Jonathan Bell said the TUV had given no indication of its intention to abandon the forum but he said its attitude towards the grouping since its inception had been "disappointing".

"Their determination to divide unionism rather than work positively on issues of concern to the community has been noted on a number of occasions," he said.

He said the TUV's decision to leave the forum "neither solves any of the problems which affect the unionist community nor does it reduce the need for unionism to work closely together".

An Ulster Unionist spokesman said the party saw the forum as a "long-term strategic body" with a focus on identifying areas of common agreement and concern. He said it had no intentions of walking away from the forum.

"It is fair to say that the working groups have lacked resource in the early stages and that has restricted progress," he said.

"Nobody expects all unionist groups to agree on everything -- that's one of the points of the forum."