A former chief constable of the RUC, Sir John Hermon, yesterday joined Mr David Trimble in calling for "a resounding Yes vote" in today's referendum on the Belfast Agreement.
In an intervention targeted at unionist voters concerned about police reform, Sir John said he wanted to appeal to both Catholics and Protestants to support the Belfast Agreement.
"A resounding Yes vote will hold the centre ground of moderation and progress and leave the extremists where they should be, out on the extremes," he said at Belfast City Hall yesterday.
The issue of policing could be dealt with only when the constitutional situation was resolved.
"The RUC is a factor. This is a constitutional, political matter. The constabulary for Northern Ireland must be decided when those other issues are resolved - the constitutional position, and they have been in this agreement," Sir John said.
When there was "an assembly of Ulster people", they should be asked in partnership about the kind of police force they wanted and needed.
Praising the politicians who had negotiated the deal, Sir John said nobody had won and nobody had lost. "It behoves all the law-abiding people of Northern Ireland to give them [politicians] support," he added.
The Ulster Unionist leader said he was delighted Sir John had endorsed the Yes campaign. "I am sure it will have a considerable influence on a wide range of people," Mr Trimble said. He then went on a short walkabout on Royal Avenue with party colleagues Mr John Taylor and Mr Ken Maginnis. A ring of cameramen and press photographers made it difficult for Mr Trimble to talk to shoppers, who appeared bemused at the extent of foreign media interest.
Apart from one or two calls of "traitor", most people smiled and shook hands with the UUP leader. "We hope everything goes well for you," an east Belfast woman said. "Vote Yes, it's a safe bet," Mr Trimble said. One older man made his point by playing God Save the Queen on his accordion, but asked which way he was voting, he replied: "I'm not sure yet."
Mr Trimble was in a confident mood at a press conference at his party's headquarters yesterday morning. "Whatever difficulties there may have been are in the past," he said, insisting that undecided voters were being persuaded to vote Yes. The party's target was moving from "the floor of 65 per cent towards a more comfortable 70 per cent" Yes vote, he said.
There was no reason for people to keep "scratching away at sore points" such as decommissioning because they had been dealt with. "We want the focus to be on the opportunities that are there. This deal opens to people the sort of stability and democratic control they have not had in 26 years. The benefits that will flow from that are enormous."
The British Prime Minister, Mr Tony Blair, had earlier made an appeal for a Yes vote with Mr Trimble and the SDLP leader, Mr John Hume. Mr Blair spent most of the day in the North. After visiting Holywood, Co Down, where he went on a short walkabout and met British soldiers in their barracks, he visited a hospital on the outskirts of Belfast before meeting business people in Antrim. He returned to London in the late afternoon.