Hague finds deal is easy to sell

They all seemed to be Yes voters on Bangor seafront last night, where the Conservative Party leader, Mr William Hague, went canvassing for the Belfast Agreement.

The Olympic gold medallist and Tory official, Sebastian Coe, led the Conservative team as it went glad-handing around the perimeter of Bangor marina.

While the British Prime Minister, Mr Tony Blair, was making his pitch for the agreement in Coleraine, Co Derry, Mr Hague tried to sell the deal to the Bangor electorate.

He was accompanied by his Northern spokesman, Mr Andrew Mackay, and the Ulster Unionist Party MP, Mr Ken Maginnis.

Mr Hague spoke to several people on the promenade, nearly all of whom seemed to be in favour of the agreement. Perhaps the absence of No voters could be put down to reluctance to disappoint politicians.

The one "undecided" Mr Hague met on his bracing walk around Bangor promenade didn't even have a vote. The Tory leader spoke for several minutes to Ben Archibald (17), a sixth-form pupil from Bangor.

He said that while he was not yet entitled to vote, many of his older friends were still undecided. How could Mr Hague persuade the young waverers to endorse the deal, he wondered.

Mr Hague told him there could not be agreement without compromise. "We have got to give this agreement a chance because we may not get the opportunity again for 10 years or even perhaps longer.

"This is an opportunity for people of your generation, of my generation, and of the next generation to see an end to the conflict.

"There are people who are aged 40 or 50 or more who wish they had had the same opportunity to vote for an agreement such as this when they were 20. I hope you can convince your friends that this agreement should be given a chance," Mr Hague said.

The Tory leader told reporters he would keep Mr Blair to his promises on decommissioning and prisoners. "If this agreement is not given a chance what is the alternative? What is the hope for the future?

"We have got to have that hope for the future because it won't come back again."

The former UUP mayor of Bangor, Ms Irene Cree, said she would be supporting the agreement, although that decision had involved a lot of "heartache".

"I might not have supported it five years ago, but I now have two grandchildren and I am voting Yes for them. As a Christian, I believe a vote Yes is the right way forward. This involves a great leap of faith for everybody."