Police reform 'will go ahead without Unionist backing'

The Government vowed to press ahead with creating a new-look police force in Northern Ireland yesterday despite failing to win the backing of the Ulster Unionists for its reform blueprint. David Trimble's party refused to deliver its verdict on the plan by yesterday's midday deadline, insisting that it needed more time.

John Reid, the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, said ministers would continue with the creation of the new Policing Board, which will implement the planned changes.

On Monday, the nationalist SDLP supported the reform package, and dropped its opposition to Catholics joining the police. The Catholic Church and the Irish government have backed its stance. Unionist ranks are deeply divided over whether they should endorse the proposals.

Despite its reservations, the leadership is expected to rubber-stamp the plans eventually, leaving Sinn Fein and Ian Paisley's Democratic Unionist Party isolated in opposition. James Cooper, the Ulster Unionist chairman, said: "We still have concerns."

Dr Reid said: "It is now my confident hope and expectation that, by the end of September, we shall have established the first Policing Board to command political support from both sides of the community.

"All of us know that in a democracy, no one, not even governments, can refuse to move forward because they do not get everything they want."

Michelle Gildernew, a Sinn Fein MP, said negotiations on the issue would continue because the Government's proposals fell short of last year's reform recommendations by the former Tory minister, Chris Patten. "The days of nationalists accepting less than our just entitlements and rights are long gone," she said. "Nationalists will not be fooled into believing what is on offer amounts to a new beginning to policing."

* The three suspected Provisional IRA men held in Colombia will be told today if they are to stand trial or be deported. Security sources in Belfast said Martin McCauley, Jim Monaghan and Niall Connolly are expected to face no charges and be deported. The men, using false British and Irish passports, had spent five weeks allegedly training with Colombian rebels.