Survey: Voters back St Andrew's agreement
More than half of people in a survey released in the North today back Bertie Ahern and Tony Blair’s plan for reviving power sharing.
However, the opinion poll showed although the majority of Democratic Unionist voters supported the St Andrew's Agreement (46.6% in favour compared to 31.9% against), it fell just short of half.
The poll, which was released on the eve of the deadline for responses to the St Andrew's proposals, found over half of Sinn Féin voters (57.9%) backed them.
Under the accord, Sinn Féin would be require to change its policing policy by publicly endorsing the PSNI.
Ian Paisley’s DUP, which has yet to formally declare it will follow Mr Ahern and Mr Blair’s power-sharing timetable, has insisted it cannot share power with Sinn Féin next March without republicans committing themselves to supporting the PSNI and upholding the rule of law.
Sinn Féin, which gave its qualified backing to the St Andrew's plan on Monday, has said it is not yet in a position to convene a special conference on policing and needs a target date for the transfer of policing and justice powers.
The strongest support for the St Andrew's proposals in the poll was among SDLP voters (71.6%), followed by supporters of the Alliance Party (63.2%).
SDLP leader Mark Durkan will today discuss efforts to revive power sharing with the Taoiseach in Dublin.
More Ulster Unionist voters (51.8%) in the poll backed the plan than DUP supporters.
Reg Empey’s party today published a four-page insert, accusing the rival DUP of effectively moving from an anti-Good Friday Agreement position to signing up to a plan to implement it.
There was also stronger support in the opinion poll for the devolution roadmap (48.1% for, 15.4% against) among unionists who back parties other than the DUP and UUP.
Among nationalists who identified themselves as neither Sinn Féin nor SDLP voters, more people were opposed to the St Andrew's plan, with 48.5% against compared with 33.3% in favour.
The opinion poll of 1,100 people was conducted by PricewaterhouseCoopers for BBC Northern Ireland’s Hearts And Minds programme.
