The Belfast Agreement may collapse next year because of government ineptitude, a leading Ulster Unionist claimed.
Lord Kilclooney, Mr John Taylor MP, warned unionist support for the agreement was waning and there was a more than 50 per cent chance it would founder.
He told the Cambridge University Union last night the agreement had not been a surrender to terror but a victory for democracy over terror.
He said it had created political stability in Northern Ireland which had resulted in increased investment, lower unemployment than the EU average, increased house prices and net immigration increasing the population to more than 1.7 million.
"But I have bad news. There is now a more than 50 per cent chance that all these gains will be lost and the Belfast Agreement brought to an end next year due to the ineptitude of the government".
Unionist support for the agreement was waning owing to the continued - albeit reduced - violence of the IRA "but particularly because the government has not upheld the Agreement's guarantee of Northern Ireland's position within the United Kingdom", Lord Kilclooney said.
The British government's decision to "destroy" the RUC, restrict the flying of the Union Flag, remove the Royal Coat of Arms from Crown Courts and agree to police from the Irish Republic patrolling the streets had undermined support, he claimed.
Lord Kilclooney said: "This government is probably incapable of rescuing the agreement because it does not understand the damage it has done".