The Northern Ireland Secretary of State, Dr John Reid, has urged the North's main political parties to support his proposals for the implementation of changes to policing.
However, apart from Sinn Fein none of the main political parties in Northern Ireland was prepared by last night to make a definitive response to the latest British government proposals on the reform of the RUC.
Dr Reid outlined the plans for the new service at a press conference at Stormont yesterday, saying the proposals contained the "spirit of Patten". This comment was clearly aimed at the SDLP, whose support for the implementation plan is crucial as it requires that there be "cross-community" support.
The Secretary of State set a deadline of next Tuesday, August 21st, for the four main parties to consider the plan and indicate their willingness or otherwise to nominate members to the Policing Board, the body which will have control over the proposed Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI).
The implementation plan is the latest attempt by the British government to gain support from the political parties in the North for the creation of a new police force, one of the objects of the Belfast Agreement.
Despite the endorsement by the Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, of the new plan, a fact that Dr Reid referred to three times during his press conference to launch the document, the SDLP appeared lukewarm in its response.
If the SDLP does not accept the plan and does not make nominations to the Policing Board, the reforms cannot be said to have cross-community support and will fall. The decision by Sinn Fein to refuse to nominate any members for the Policing Board and to strongly criticise the plans has left the SDLP in a difficult political position.
Yesterday the SDLP would not say whether it would nominate, and sources close to the party said it would be unlikely to do so before Tuesday's deadline set by the Secretary of State.
The party's policing spokesman, Mr Alex Attwood, said it would have to study it carefully to see whether it was "sufficiently close to the spirit of Patten". The two main unionist parties, the UUP and DUP, were critical of some of the changes, which they felt would have an adverse effect on policing. However, it is expected both will nominate members to the new board.
Lady Sylvia Hermon MP, wife of the former RUC chief constable, Sir John Hermon, said: "This plan puts in place only one part of the four-piece jigsaw - decommissioning, policing, demilitarisation and the stability of the institutions - outlined by the governments at Weston Park.
"Whilst we will consider it carefully we obviously need to see movement on the other three pieces of the jigsaw." The DUP deputy leader, Mr Peter Robinson, said he did not expect his party to meet the deadline for nominations to the Policing Board set by the Secretary of State. Mr Robinson said: "We are not jumping through hoops for the Secretary of State. Other parties have been treated very differently from the DUP."
Sinn Fein outlined the reasons for its rejection of the policing proposals. These are: "restrictions" on the power of the policing boards to conduct inquiries are unresolved; the plan "continues to limit the powers of the policing boards and bestows on a British Secretary of State and Chief Constable overriding powers which are in direct contradiction to the Patten Report"; that the Chief Constable "retains the power to interfere or block investigations"; it "fails to address the limited powers of the policing boards and the process of appointments is too restrictive".