The British government, under pressure from the SDLP in particular but also from Sinn Fein, the Catholic Church and the Government, has indicated it is willing to make amendments to the Police Bill in order to assuage nationalist concerns that the Patten report has been "emasculated".
As well as anxieties that the RUC title could somehow be incorporated into the working title of the Police Service of Northern Ireland, nationalists, in broad terms, have argued that the Bill undermined the Patten proposals to make the police more accountable to the community. The Police (Northern Ireland) Bill begins its passage through Westminster on Tuesday.
Between now and then British civil servants, on the instructions of the Northern Secretary, Mr Mandelson, will work hard to meet some of the nationalist concerns, without totally alienating unionists.
He has appeared quite amenable to changes to the Bill. As a British government source said yesterday: "Any Bill going through the House of Commons is subject to amendments. Given the complexity of the issue as pointed out by the (police) Oversight Commissioner Tom Constantine, it is quite possible that the Police Bill may undergo substantial refinements as it passes through parliament."
Yesterday Mr Mandelson spoke of "the SDLP and Seamus Mallon in particular" having made "some very useful suggestions about how we might improve the Bill . . . I will do that and I will give my considered judgment on many of these matters in the second reading next Tuesday".
Policing is also a test of the virility of the SDLP and Sinn Fein, as the subtext of all this is the electoral war they are waging against each other for the hearts and minds of nationalism.
For once Sinn Fein is on the back foot, although it is striving to strike a more aggressive pose.
While Sinn Fein was holding a press conference yesterday, the British civil servants were poring over a document issued by the SDLP two weeks ago listing 44 amendments and outlining where the Bill differs from Patten. The big question is will nationalists be encouraged to join the new force when the debate is over.
As things stand, neither Sinn Fein nor the SDLP would issue such a recommendation. Mr Mandelson has stated in the House of Commons that the RUC title will be included in the "title deeds" of the new service. The SDLP spokesman on policing, Mr Alex Attwood, complained that the Police Bill had not "closed the controversy around the name" because ultimately it was for Mr Mandelson to decide what he meant by "title deeds".
Patten also recommended that the new force should adopt a badge and symbols "entirely free from any association with the British or Irish states".
However, section 50 of the Police Bill states that the Northern Secretary may prescribe the design of the flag and the emblem for the new force after consultation with the Policing Board, the RUC Chief Constable and the Police Association. The Policing Board - to comprise 10 Assembly members and nine people appointed by the Northern Secretary - and the Police Ombudsman have a key role in relation to accountability. The board's function is to hold the Chief constable and the police service to account, but again the SDLP and Sinn Fein fear that the Bill will blunt its teeth.
Patten recommended that the board could hold inquiries into policing matters, but in the Bill the Northern Secretary can block such an investigation if he deems "it would not be in the interests of the efficiency or effectiveness of the police service".
The Police Authority, which is being replaced by the board, was also scathing in its criticism. Patten proposes that over a minimum 10-year period recruitment should be on a 50-50 Catholic-Protestant basis in order to make the force more representative of the religious-political makeup of the population. However, in the Bill the initial period is three years.