Both Sinn Fein and the Ulster Unionist Party have indicated they will take time to examine the Patten report on policing before deciding on accepting or rejecting the document.
Ulster Unionist sources said their leader, Mr David Trimble, was likely to set up a strategy committee of senior party members to examine the 128-page report.
In a statement yesterday the Sinn Fein president, Mr Gerry Adams, said his party was studying the proposals carefully but added that a "repackaged" RUC was not acceptable.
UUP sources said Mr Trimble was "deeply upset", as were other party members, at how the report dealt with a hypothetical situation rather than the security situation as Mr Trimble believes Sir Ronnie Flanagan sees it.
Mr Trimble reacted angrily to the report on its publication last week and criticised proposals to remove the RUC name and badge and the Union flag and the amalgamation of the Special Branch with the criminal investigation branch.
Mr Chris Patten, chairman of the Independent Commission on Policing, which was set up under the Belfast Agreement, yesterday insisted that his blueprint provided unionists and nationalists with a model for a service which could command the support of both communities.
"What's in it for unionists is what's in it for the whole community, the promise of better policing, more effective policing everywhere," Mr Patten said in a BBC interview. "Policing should be a partnership between the police service and the community in Northern Ireland.
"I don't think anybody can really argue that a name or a cap badge, however important and emotional issues those are, actually affect the quality, the level of policing."
However, Mr Ken Maginnis, a UUP MP, said there were areas in the report that were contradictory, "and it is frightening the amount of power Mo Mowlam would have in the drafting of the legislation needed to enact this report".
Mr Gerry Adams said his party was taking "a measured and thoughtful attitude" to the report, but this did not mean Sinn Fein would accept anything less than the end of the RUC and the creation of a new policing service.
"A repackaged RUC will not attract any measure of support. Change must therefore include both symbols and substance."
He added: "We will come to this matter in a positive and constructive way. But one thing is for certain. The RUC is finished."
The Ulster Democratic Party, linked to the UDA/UFF, will meet Dr Mowlam today at their request, to outline their opposition to symbolic changes to the RUC. These would have a serious impact on confidence in the peace process, the party leader, Mr Gary McMichael, said.
"These reforms are not designed to enhance nationalist recruitment but are instead a payoff for continued republican support for the political process," he added.