The Northern Ireland Secretary, Mr Peter Mandelson, has created speculation about possible concessions to unionists on the controversial Patten Commission proposals for the reform of the Royal Ulster Constabulary.
Speculation about the British government's attitude to the proposed changes in the force's title and symbols increased at Westminster last night, as two senior Labour MPs welcomed what they termed Mr Mandelson's "more sensitive understanding of the importance of the symbolic changes proposed by Patten, particularly the name of the service and its insignia".
In a letter to the MPs, the former minister, Mr Frank Field, and a long-time peace campaigner, Mr Harry Barnes, the Secretary of State said:
"I also recognise and understand the pain which has been caused to many in the RUC by Patten's proposal to change its name and symbols.
"I am listening very carefully to the comments made both for and against change in the consultation process."
The disclosure of Mr Mandelson's latest comments on the RUC coincides with a growing belief that the British government's decisions on Patten could be a major, and perhaps determining, factor in the attitude finally taken by leading unionist dissidents such as Mr Jeffrey Donaldson to this week's peace deal, intended to allow the creation of Northern Ireland's power-sharing executive on November 29th or December 1st.
The consultation process is set to conclude at the end of this month.
Mr Mandelson's letter, dated November 4th, was a direct response to a Commons Early Day Motion tabled by the two MPs two days earlier, suggesting "a compromise solution" which would see the force named "RUC - Northern Ireland Policing Service" and a reconfiguration of the present cap badge in which the shamrock, harp and crown could be placed alongside one another.
Asked if this meant the government was open-minded about the proposed name change, a Northern Ireland Office source would only say: "We are still in the consultation process and we are not going to prejudge the outcome of that consultation."
However, Mr Mandelson's letter, while offering absolutely no commitments, has fostered the belief in unionist and pro-Union circles that there has at least been a significant change in "tone" in relation to the policing issue since Mr Mandelson succeeded Dr Mo Mowlam last month.
It is understood Mr David Trimble and his senior colleagues intend to test the extent of any actual change in disposition on the key policing issues with Mr Mandelson, and the British Prime Minister, Mr Tony Blair, ahead of the special meeting of the Ulster Unionist Council scheduled for Saturday week.
But the government's difficulty was sharply underlined yesterday when Ms Bairbre de Brun, a putative minister in the power-sharing executive, repeated that, for Sinn Fein, "the RUC has to be a thing of the past".