The leaders of the Orange Order emerged from a meeting at Downing Street with the British Prime Minister, Mr Blair, yesterday, insisting there were still elements of the Belfast Agreement they found "objectionable".
They declined to say whether they would be making a firm recommendation on how members of the Order should vote. The next step, they said, would be to report the details of the meeting to County Grand Masters. Mr Blair and the Northern Ireland Secretary, Dr Mo Mowlam, who also attended the meeting, had hoped to persuade the Order to support the agreement, while making it clear that the terms of the deal could not be altered.
After the 80-minute meeting, the secretary of the Grand Lodge of Ireland, Mr John McCrea, said the Order had sought "further clarification" of the proposals contained in the agreement before it could give a clear indication to the people of Northern Ireland that it should accept the deal. However, after an "open and frank" discussion with the Prime Minister, he had told them that the agreement was a multi-party document and as such "cannot be varied or amended". Afterwards, Dr Mowlam said the meeting was "constructive" but she acknowledged that there was a need for further "clarification" on issues contained in the document. "We are anxious, where people don't have the information, that we offer assistance so that people actually understand what the agreement means." Yesterday, the Orange Order in Portadown came out against the agreement. The local District Lodge said in a statement that it had consulted the membership and was asking all unionists to vote No in the referendum.