A unionist forum set up to engage with communities over the ongoing flag debate at Belfast City Hall is to meet later today.

The forum was set up by Ulster Unionist leader Mike Nesbitt and DUP leader Peter Robinson.

But the Ulster People's Forum, one of the groups behind the protests, said it had not been invited and would not attend even if it had been.

Mike Nesbitt has been speaking to the BBC on Radio Ulster’s Good Morning Ulster programme.

"I was in communication with one of the leaders of that group up to midnight," he said.

Declining to name the leader, Mr Nesbitt said: "I'm confused about why that particular individual doesn't want to engage with the forum because he seems to want to engage with me.

"I was preparing the ground to encourage them to engage after today when we open it up and try and give channels of communication to all groups and factions within unionism because that's the challenge - for the first time to see if the broad unionist family can come together and support a political path forward."

The two main unionist parties will join other unionists at Stormont to attend today’s meeting.

TUV leader Jim Allister is thought to be sending representatives due to other commitments.

The agenda will include flags, parades and cultural identity.

"The sort of people who will be coming to the table today don't believe that the agreement and the process over the last 15 years has delivered on any of those fronts," Mr Nesbitt told the BBC.

"Our failure to properly deal with the past is the one Achilles heel of devolution. It is the one thing that could truly destabilise the political process."

Violence and protests have been prominent and ongoing in parts of Belfast since the City Council voted to restrict the flying of the union flag at City Hall.

Yesterday, the birthday of the Duchess of Cambridge, was the first of the designated days during which the flag will be flown. The flag was taken down again on Wednesday evening and will next be raised on 20 January to mark the birthday of the Countess of Wessex.

(IT)