Northern Ireland secretary, Peter Mandelson, yesterday warned nationalists that they could wreck the peace process with the SDLP's refusal to join a new policing board.

In a "marked change of tone" Mandelson appealed to the SDLP not to "torpedo" the Good Friday Agreement by obstructing RUC reform. The government is said to be increasingly frustrated at nationalist intransigence over policing whilst they criticise the unionists for demanding IRA arms decommissioning.