The British government was guilty of "a failure of the imagination" and a minimalist approach to the implementation of the Patten report, the North's Deputy First Minister has said in an address to the National Committee on American Foreign Policy.
Noting that the Police Bill produced last May purported to implement the Patten report fully, Mr Seamus Mallon said yesterday that the reality was, "All too often, it minimised and even obstructed the letter and spirit of Patten's reasonable recommendations".
Some improvements in the Police Bill were made "after long and bitter debate" and these were welcome. "But the Bill still does not measure up to Patten. Serious faults remain; faults that strike at the heart of Patten's proposals; faults that the British government must put right."
It must be clear that the name of the police would change to the neutral "Police Service of Northern Ireland" for all purposes, not just for some.
Mr Mallon said the full implementation of the Patten report was more important than the political survival of any individual. Patten should not be sacrificed to keep any political party on-side.
Mr Mallon was sharply critical of the Northern Secretary, Mr Peter Mandelson. He said that every time anyone tried to be generous, "he takes all, misrepresents your position and gives nothing".
He believed that something would happen to improve the position on policing "before Peter does any more damage".
The agreement would stay, although Mr Trimble and himself might go. "Peter, I hope, will."
He said the powers of the new policing board and police ombudsman had to reflect what the Patten report envisaged. There must be an effective oversight of all aspects of the reform process.
But behind the individual faults in the Bill there was a wider malaise, a failure to recognise that nationalists wanted to be able to say to their young people that they should join, support and defend the police.
"More fundamentally, it is a failure of the imagination; a failure to imagine a society where policing is with the consent of all in the community."
He warned that, if London continued to "minimise" Patten, the whole police reform project could founder. "Worse, the whole agreement will be put in jeopardy. Does Mr Mandelson want to play his part in this?"
In the absence of broad consent on policing, the agreement would be undermined eventually.
It was not too late for the British government to change course and "embrace the fulsome implementation of Patten's proposals".
Courage would be required, but it would reap dividends. "I call on the British government to help us to bring this about; to think not of the passing concerns of today or tomorrow but of the imperatives for our whole future; to help us to get our society right; to implement the Patten report in full," Mr Mallon said.
The National Committee on American Foreign Policy is chaired by an Irish-American businessman, Mr Bill Flynn, who has been a prominent figure in the peace process over the past decade.