The SDLP and Sinn Fein have reacted angrily to what they see as an implicit attempt by the Northern Secretary, Mr Peter Mandelson, to create divisions between the two parties in their approach to the proposed policing changes. Mr Mandelson yesterday insisted that the "spirit and the letter" of the Patten proposals on policing would be implemented in full while reiterating that the RUC was not being disbanded.
While the SDLP, Sinn Fein and the main unionist parties have criticised aspects of his Police Bill working its way through Westminster, Mr Mandelson predicted the proposed Police Service of Northern Ireland would gain widespread community endorsement.
Both parties have expressed concern that the incorporation of the RUC name in the new title could dissuade nationalists from joining the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI). They complain that while PSNI will be the operational name of the new force it is unclear to what extent the RUC name will feature in the overall title. This will be a key issue during the final stages of the Bill as it passes through the House of Lords and returns to the House of Commons in the autumn.
Mr Mandelson said in Coleraine yesterday that he attempted to address nationalist concerns with his support for 60 changes to the Bill. "I would just say this to nationalists and to the SDLP: you do have legitimate concerns. You have fought very vigorously for the changes which you have now secured. Don't please now fall into the trap of adopting other people's hype and other people's misrepresentations," Mr Mandelson said.
When the next group of recruits joined the new force next year it would be "a police service with a new name, the Police Service of Northern Ireland, with a new uniform, with a new outlook - an entirely fresh beginning for the police in what is a new era".
Both the SDLP and Sinn Fein have been competing for recognition as the main nationalist advocates of a radical new police service, and Mr Mandelson's suggestion that the SDLP is operating to the same agenda as Sinn Fein stung the Deputy First Minister, Mr Seamus Mallon.
Mr Mandelson's comment about the SDLP adopting other people's misrepresentations "raises doubts about his counsel and his judgment", said Mr Mallon.
"The Secretary of State might better use his efforts to address the message that the SDLP has given on this issue rather than make snide and patronising remarks," he added. "The British government knows well that the SDLP takes its own counsel and makes its own judgment on policing. It always has and it always will." Mr Gerry Kelly, the Sinn Fein spokesman on policing, accused Mr Mandelson of engaging in a "ham-fisted" attempt to deflect criticism of the Bill. "Peter Mandelson's remarks were patronising of sections of Irish nationalism and ignore the united and vocal opposition to the Police Bill in Belfast, Dublin, at Westminster and Washington," he said.
Mr Mandelson is due to announce tomorrow an enhanced £220 million redundancy package for RUC officers taking early retirement from the force. Over the next two years 2,000 officers are expected to avail of the scheme, reducing the full- time strength of the force to 6,500.
Meanwhile, the North's First Minister, Mr David Trimble, said at an RUC/Police Federation exhibition in London yesterday that he was pleased that the name of the RUC would have an honoured place in the new police title.
Mr Trimble also urged the Taoiseach to take a tougher stance against republican dissidents in the Republic. "The Irish prime minister must ensure the tough legislative and anti-terrorist measures introduced after the Omagh bomb in 1998 are used to eliminate the threat from dissident republicans," he warned.
