BELFAST (Reuters) - Northern Ireland's largest pro-British party threatened to bring down the province's power-sharing government unless parliament is suspended while talks to save the grand coalition take place.
The Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) last week unsuccessfully sought the permission of a parliamentary committee to suspend all sittings ahead of talks, which began on Tuesday, to avert a crisis over an Irish Republican Army-linked murder.
A senior member of Northern Ireland's main Irish nationalist party Sinn Fein, the one-time political wing of the IRA which leads the government with the DUP, was arrested in relation to the murder earlier on Wednesday, prompting the fresh threat.
"As a consequence of today's events, we are seeking the recall of the Business Committee to consider adjourning the Assembly," Northern Ireland's First Minister Peter Robinson said in a statement.
"If that does not happen or, as an alternative, the Secretary of State does not suspend the Assembly, then DUP Ministerial resignations will follow immediately," he said.