A BULLISH Mr John Major yesterday told the House of Commons: "We cannot and will not change our policy in order to bargain for a ceasefire."
The prime minister was answering a "planted" question from Mr Andrew Hunter, chairman of the Conservative backbench committee on Northern Ireland, announcing his intention to publish his reply to the Hume/Adams proposals.
And last night Mr Major appeared to pour cold water on the prospects for a renewed IRA cessation. He told Sky News: "Certainly the message of Lisburn, and the message of other activities we have seen recently, is that it is very doubtful whether there will be a credible ceasefire."
Mr Major said: "I can't make up the IRA's mind for it. The IRA can decide whether there is going to be a credible ceasefire " But calling the last ceasefire a "fake" he told ITN: "If we can credibly have those talks, with a credible ceasefire that looks as though it is lasting, excellent. That is what I have been working for. But I am not interested in fake talks, fake assurances and a fake ceasefire."
Earlier Mr Hunter asked Mr Major to confirm that he would not "barter or bargain" with Sinn Fein, and that the party's "self exclusion" would continue until it had "over a period of time established a commitment to exclusively peaceful means.
Mr Major said there had been a great deal of rumour and disinformation over recent weeks. "The government has had a number of exchanges with Mr Hume and others about the possibility of a new IRA ceasefire. We have made it clear throughout those exchanges that the IRA and Sinn Fein should give up violence once and for all and commit themselves to exclusively peaceful means. We have also made it clear that we cannot and will not change our policy to bargain for a ceasefire."
The Prime Minister insisted: "We aren't seeking delay. We wish to see inclusive talks, involving all parties, as soon as possible. But if Sinn Fein continue to exclude themselves, the talks must and will go on without them."
Mr Major said: "The talks that have been carrying on for some time are likely to break for Christmas soon and to resume later in January." But he repeated: "When Sinn Fein can join the talks depends on their own actions. We need to see an unequivocal restoration of the ceasefire. We need to be able to make a credible judgment that it is lasting. We need to know that they will Sign up to the Mitchell principles.
In a subsequent briefing for the press, the Northern Ireland Minister, Mr Michael Ancram, said the government was ruling nothing in or out in terms of a timetable for Sinn Fein's entry to talks. It was not insisting on the use of the word "permanent". But he continued: "What we are asking is for words, actions and circumstances to create the confidence that a ceasefire is genuine."
Mr Ancram denied that the British government was "moving the goalposts" by imposing conditions which would not have applied had the IRA called a ceasefire to enable Sinn Fein to join the talks when they started on June 10th. The criteria, he said, had been established in the command paper published last April.
Yesterday's government statement envisaged official and ministerial meetings with Sinn Fein quickly after the restoration of the ceasefire "to explore with them what assurances could be given and what confidence building measures established." London and Dublin would invite Sinn Fein to meet them together "for the purpose of making an early total and absolute commitment to the Mitchell principles."
The two governments would then propose "bilateral and other consultations with all the parties to seek to determine how, if this process were successfully concluded, the negotiations could most constructively be advanced, including the issue of the participants adopting an agreed indicative timetable for taking stock of their progress.".