Unionists mock Hume's call to Sinn Fein

The Ulster Unionist leader David Trimble yesterday dismissed any election threat for his party after the SDLP leader John Hume set out the conditions under which he would consider a pact with Sinn Fein.

Mr Hume suggested a pre-election pact made sense and said he believed seven seats could be won by nationalists, reducing the Unionists to seven or eight MPs.

Mr Trimble insisted a pact would have no effect on his party's representation. "I don't believe any Ulster Unionist seat is at risk," he said. "I would have thought it was in the interests of the SDLP for it to draw a clearer distinction between itself and Sinn Fein/IRA."

Mr Hume said he would consider a pre-election pact if there was a "complete end to violence" by the IRA.