Renewed links between the Ulster Unionist Party and the Conservatives — including a potential merger — are on the cards following top-level talks.

The negotiations could lead to a UUP MP becoming a Minister in any future Conservative government with David Cameron as Prime Minister.

The two parties have set up a working group to examine closer co-operation leading to the creation of “a new political and electoral force in Northern Ireland.”

Mr Cameron said today: “I would like this to go all the way.”

And he revealed that former UUP leader Lord Trimble, who joined the Conservative benches last year, has already been in contact with the current sole UUP MP Lady Sylvia Hermon, who has a recent record of voting with the Labour Party.

Mr Cameron also said he hoped that former First Minister Lord Trimble will have “a strong part to play” in a future Tory administration.

And there was speculation today that the UUP’s Jim Nicholson, who sits with the Conservative grouping in the European Parliament, could stand as a Unionist and Conservative candidate in next year’s European election.

Sir Reg, who said he believed that he has the support of his North Down MP, said today: “I think we want to explore whether we can play a meaningful role in national as well as local politics.”

And he said some members opposed to developing new ties with the Tories — including North Belfast MLA Fred Cobain, who once described such a move as “electoral suicide”, are changing their minds.

Pointing to the talks between the SDLP and Fianna Fail on a possible merger and a growing threat of a break-up of the Union, with nationalists currently dominating the devolved administrations in Scotland and Wales, the UUP leader said: “What we are talking about here is whether we can forge links for the future. I am looking at 25 or 50 years ahead.”

The DUP, however, which recently caused consternation among Conservatives after voting with Labour on the 42-day detention of terrorist suspects issue, immediately poured scorn on the initiative as an act of electoral desperation.

The Tory-UU working group, which follows months of behind-the-scenes discussions, is to report in the autumn and could form a central plank in the Conservatives’ hopes of broadening the party’s appeal outside England. But Conservative candidates have tended to perform poorly in the province.

In a joint article in today’s Daily Telegraph, the two party leaders argued, however: “Northern Ireland needs to be brought back into the mainstream of UK politics. It needs more full-time MPs in the Commons. It needs MPs who have the prospect of assuming office as ministers ...

“Many people are becoming exasperated by local politicians concentrating on what appear to be parochial issues. Like most others in the UK, what really worries them is social breakdown, fuel duties, the 10p tax row, excessive regulation on business, pensions and the Lisbon Treaty.

“There is a danger that some of Northern Ireland’s politicians will continue to look inwards and become ‘Ulster Nationalists’ ...”

The two parties have historic connections dating back to the 1880s and the UUP had been considered an integral part of the Conservative Party but growing tensions led to an all but complete split after PM Edward Heath suspended Stormont in 1972.

But in a restructuring exercise under William Hague in 1988, Northern Ireland was admitted as an ‘area party’.

Mr Cameron said today he believed the new talks could result in a “new force which is both unionist clearly wanting Northern Ireland to remain part of the United Kingdom, but also has the rich heritage and philosophy of the Conservative party”.

He added: “Politics in Northern Ireland now needs to become more like politics in the rest of the county.

“I want to get to a situation where you can’t have a British PM brushing off Northern Ireland because you will have MPs allied to the party in government.

“I’d like to have this new political force that people could get in and have a legitimate expectation that they could be part of the Government and a permanent reminder that we need to look after every part of the UK.”