(by Anne Cadwallader and Barry McCaffrey, Ireland on Sunday)

The UVF and PUP will split in two if talks to resolve the continuing loyalist feud with the UDA results in the setting up of a new "Combined Loyalist Military Command", according to loyalist sources.

Top loyalist and Progressive Unionist Party assembly man, Billy Hutchinson, has threatened to quit the leadership of his party, if talks between the UVF and UDA result in a new paramilitary pact and loyalist umbrella group.

Senior loyalist sources have admitted Hutchinson has privately warned he will step down from the leadership of the PUP if the UVF agrees to reform the Combined Loyalist Military Command (CLMC) structure with the UDA.

This would inevitably mean the end of Hutchinson's two-year role as the sole UVF intermediary with the Independent International Commission on Decommissioning (IICD) - a further blow to the peace process.

Hutchinson did not take his seat with the rest of the PUP on the podium during its annual party conference in East Belfast yesterday. This is being seen as a public sign of his determination to oppose any new deal with the UDA.

The row, which threatens to divide the rank and file of the PUP/UVF, could also have repercussions for the stability of the loyalist ceasefires. Hutchinson has been a steadying force and moderate influence on anti-Agreement elements within the UVF and PUP.

The CLMC was created in the early 1990's and was in force exactly six years ago, in October 1994, when the UVF, Red Hand Commando and UDA announced their ceasefires. The umbrella group survived for three years but broke down in 1997, with both sides blaming each other.

A decision by Hutchinson to walk away from the PUP leadership would cause huge problems for the PUP. He has been one of the PUP's main spokesmen since the party was formed six years ago.

The credibility, which it had worked hard to build up will be severely damaged if one of its leading members is seen to be so concerned at the PUP's future direction that he refuses to take any part in it.

Hutchinson has served a life sentence in the UVF compounds in Long Kesh, where he and many of the current leadership of the PUP, including David Ervine, were greatly influenced by then UVF leader, Gusty Spence.

While David Ervine and Hutchinson are seen as a combined PUP leadership, it has been Hutchinson who was most frequently under pressure, being targeted first by LVF leader Billy Wright and in recent months by the UDA's Shankill Road "C Company".

In the last two months there have been a number of gun and bomb attacks on his home. Despite these attacks he has continued to publicly accuse "C Company" of being involved in widespread drug dealing.

Hutchinson's refusal to take part in any new CLMC is said to be grounded on a fear that the UVF's involvement in the reformed ruling body would be seen as giving approval to the UDA's drug dealing.

"Billy does not want to split the party but he is adamant that he will have no part of any deal which gives cover to drug dealers in the UDA", one senior loyalist source said last night.

"There are elements within the UVF which are calling for a deal to be hammered out but 'Hutchy' has told them that he will have no part in it while the UDA is giving "C Company" a free hand to strengthen its drug empire."

The loyalist source warned that the PUP could be irrevocably damaged by any UVF decision to go into a deal with the UDA. "A lot of people within the prganisation are asking how the party can publicly be able to continue with its anti-drugs line if we are in bed with the UDA?

"In particular, they say we cannot get into any relationship with "C Company". The dogs on the streets know are up to their necks in drugs. Some of the leadership may think they can bully the rank and file into agreeing a deal but the ordinary UVF volunteer is not going to accept it.

"The UDA is peddling this filth on the Shankill on a day and daily basis and the leadership wants us to turn a blind eye to it! Hutchinson is against it and if the leadership forces the issue I think they will find that a lot of other people are against it too.

"If the leadership doesn't waken up I honestly believe that this has the potential to split not only the PUP but the entire UVF as well".

In August 1996 the CLMC gave Portadown UVF leaders Billy Wright and Alex Kerr 48 hours to leave the country after both were accused of deliberately undermining the loyalist ceasefires.

Billy Hutchinson subsequently became the prime target for Wright's Loyalist Volunteer Force and narrowly escaped an attempt on his life which was planned to take place as he took his morning jog in the hills above north Belfast.

The current bloody feud between the UVF and the UDA's Shankill Road "C Company", in which three people have been murdered and more than 200 families forced to flee their homes, may have cooled in recent weeks.

But it is understood Hutchinson has remained adamant he will have no part in any deal with the UDA's controversial Shankill Road "C Company".

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