David Trimble has warned that Ulster Unionists will quit the Stormont executive within three months unless Sinn Fein delivers real progress on IRA decommissioning and turns its back on violence.

The Ulster Unionist leader's warning came at a crunch meeting of his party's ruling council on Saturday at which a compromise deal was agreed.

Trimble warned that he would no longer remain in government unless the assurances he sought were met by the end of the year.