A "bare majority" in Northern Ireland in favour of a Yes vote in the Belfast Agreement referendum would lead to "very great difficulties", the former British prime minister, Mr John Major, warned yesterday.
An overwhelming Yes vote in one community and a majority No vote in the other community would also cause serious problems, he said.
"We have seen in the past that a minority can inhibit an agreement . . . it could happen in the future," Mr Major told a Northern Ireland Chamber of Commerce lunch in Holywood, Co Down.
He said he hoped to see a very substantial Yes vote. "If you were to get a bare majority on May 22nd, then I think there would be very great difficulties ahead."
Mr Major said he believed that it was "a great shame" that the DUP had left the multi-party talks. He said the Rev Ian Paisley was "a powerful voice" and that the talks would have been stronger if he, with his 18 per cent of the vote, had joined in.
However, groups which had stayed outside the talks could not be allowed to destroy the fruits of the process.
Responding to questions, he said he was not "wholly comfortable" with the release of paramilitary prisoners, but stressed that there were safeguards.
Mr Major received a standing ovation for his speech. The result of a No vote, he said, would be to end inward investment and job creation. It would be No to a peaceful future, No to an end to murder and to violence, and No to an end to fear and suspicion.
He accepted the agreement was not perfect, but posed the question: "Who believes that Ian Paisley and Robert McCartney can achieve terms more likely to gain widespread cross-community support?"