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First minister 'won't walk away' Robinson 'won't bow to threats'
(30 minutes later)
First Minister Peter Robinson has said he has no intention of walking away from the power sharing executive, despite the deadlock of recent months. First Minister Peter Robinson has accused Sinn Fein of "obstructing" the Executive from meeting, and said his party "will not bow to threats".
Mr Robinson addressed the DUP annual conference in Armagh. In his first speech as leader to the DUP conference, Mr Robinson said he wanted to see policing powers devolved, but only when the time was right.
It is the first time he has made a party conference speech since taking over as leader from Ian Paisley. "We will not budge until the terms are right and the conditions we set out in our manifesto have been met," he said.
Interviewed for Radio Ulster's Inside Politics, Mr Robinson said if the deadlock is not resolved an early election is a possibility. The Executive has not met since June because of the dispute over policing.
However, he added he was not thinking of resigning his post. "Sinn Fein's strategy might have worked for them in another era but not now," Mr Robinson told the conference in Armagh.
"The days of unionists being on the back foot and having to walk away are over," he said. "We will not bow to threats, bend to pressure or be blown off track. We will maintain our steady course in negotiations."
"The tables have been turned, it's Sinn Fein who are on the back foot, it's republicans who are having difficulties.
"Why would I walk away? I want to see progress being made, I'm ready to have the executive meet, I want to make changes in Northern Ireland to the benefit of all our community.
"I'm not a quitter."
BBC2 Northern Ireland is carrying live coverage of the DUP conference starting at 1145 GMT.