DUP moves to exclude Sinn Fein from NI government

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The DUP has said it would be prepared to bring down Northern Ireland's power-sharing government over claims the Provisional IRA still exists. The party would move to exclude Sinn Fein from the executive, said DUP MP Jeffrey Donaldson. “We believe the people who should be punished here are the people who have done wrong, not the people who have stood by their pledges, who uphold the rule of law and who support democracy. "In the end, if the other parties are not prepared to support the exclusion of Sinn Fein then we will act unilaterally and if that means that we have a period in Northern Ireland where we don't have a government until we resolve and sort out these issues then so be it." The comments come ahead of a DUP meeting with Northern Ireland Secretary Theresa Villiers to discuss the status of the Provisional IRA. On Wednesday, the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) said it intended to leave the Northern Ireland Executive. The announcement came as part of an ongoing political row over the status of the Provisional IRA after the murder of Kevin McGuigan Sr.