Ulster Unionists intend to quit Stormont coalition

Ulster Unionists have announced their intention to walk away from Northern Ireland’s power-sharing executive over claims that the Provisional IRA still exists.

UUP leader Mike Nesbitt said trust in Sinn Fein had been shattered by the revelations and his party had been left with no option other than to resign from the five-party coalition and form an opposition in the Stormont Assembly.

The move by one of the three minor coalition partners throws the future of the administration into doubt, as pressure will mount on the region’s largest party, the Democratic Unionists, to follow suit.