United Unionist campaigners against the Belfast Agreement are claiming a "massive surge of support", predicting that the people of Northern Ireland will not be "bribed, brain-washed, bullied or blackmailed" into voting Yes.
At a United Unionist press conference in Belfast yesterday, the UK Unionist leader, Mr Robert McCartney, said if the opinion polls showing growing support for the No campaign were correct, the UUP leader, Mr David Trimble, was in serious trouble.
"The people will topple him," Mr McCartney said. Those in the Yes campaign who had been "crowing" about securing over 70 per cent support were now "in need of several spare pairs of incontinence pants".
Asked for his view of tonight's U2 concert which will be attended by Mr Trimble and Mr John Hume, he said it was about time the Yes campaigners staged a spectacular "because they have produced nothing spectacular until now."
He accused President Clinton, the Taoiseach, the British Prime Minister, and the leaders of the two main British opposition parties of joining together to "intimidate" the public.
"They would not accept armed terrorists committed to violence governing them. Why should they expect us to accept it?" Mr McCartney asked. Referring to comments by Mr Ahern that paramilitary groups opposed to the peace process would be "crushed", he accused the Taoiseach of "blackmailing" people in the North.
"Bertie Ahern is saying, `If you vote Yes, we will deal with these people.' Well, why won't he deal with them now? If he has the power to crush these killers and bombers, why won't he use it immediately?
"They are saying, if we don't vote Yes, there will be a return to violence. Well, no one associated with the unionist No campaign will be responsible. It is those for the agreement - the IRA, the UDA and the UVF - who killed people during the talks."
The Rev Ian Paisley also claimed unionists were being held to ransom and that "this is not a free referendum". He said the recent funding announced by the British government was intended for Northern Ireland anyway. "They are giving us back our own money," he said.
He predicted that Britain would interpret even a 51 per cent Yes vote in Northern Ireland as a victory. This would be totally hypocritical, given that the entire basis of the negotiations had allegedly been to secure majority support in both communities.
The UUP MP, Mr William Thompson, welcomed comments by the former UUP leader, Lord Molyneaux, against the agreement. "The trend in the UUP has changed and is running against this agreement. People at last know of all the shenanigans that went on in the final days of the talks." The United Unionists have launched an advertising campaign showing a woman wiping away a tear a year after the referendum, asking: "How did I bring myself to vote Sinn Fein/IRA into government?"
There were several exchanges between journalists and Mr McCartney and Dr Paisley. One newspaper journalist who attempted to ask a second question was told that it was a United Unionist press conference and not his own. He had asked whether the United Unionists would be complaining about a lack of democracy if a deal they favoured secured an overall majority at the polls but only a minority of nationalist votes.
Another reporter, who wanted to know what would happen if the United Unionists were wrong and the majority of unionist voters accepted the agreement, was asked what her opinion would be if the result was the opposite.