The Royal Ulster Constabulary's name will change in sweeping reforms of the Northern Ireland police service.

Northern Ireland Secretary Peter Mandelson confirmed the force would lose its royal title as part of the wide-ranging reforms recommended in a review of policing carried out as part of the Good Friday peace agreement.

"The RUC is bigger than its name," said Mr Mandelson.

"What it does, how it works in an effective way in Northern Ireland, but also how it can and must become more representative of the community as a whole, are the most important things for the future."

However, the changes, recommended by former Hong Kong governor Chris Patten, will cause widespread anger in unionist circles, where the RUC is seen as a bulwark against terrorism. Many of the widows and families of the 302 officers murdered by terrorists and 13,000 injured in paramilitary attacks since 1969 are likely to be angered by the move.

Speaking on BBC Radio 4's Today programme, Mr Mandelson acknowledged: "These changes are going to involve pain for the whole RUC family, and I don't want to seem to add insult to injury, but I don't believe it is possible to avoid making all these changes, including to the name, if we are going to get the sort of policing we want in Northern Ireland."

Most of Mr Patten's 175 recommendations will be endorsed by Mr Mandelson in a Commons statement.

Nationalists and republicans will welcome the radical blueprint to try to make the 92% Protestant force more acceptable to Catholics, but unionists are furious at what they see as unnecessary tampering.

"The gap between the two traditions is just so big on policing you will never please either of them completely," said a spokesman for Mr Mandelson.

The proposed changes include cutting numbers in the force from 13,500 to about 7,500.

It will be known as the Police Service of Northern Ireland, rather than Patten's suggested Northern Ireland Police Service because the Government disliked the NIPS acronym.

Mr Mandelson said the force needed to recruit more officers from the nationalist community to counter a nine-to-one ratio of Protestants over Catholics in staff numbers. "That's not healthy, it is not desirable," he said.

"It is not sustainable in the long term if we are going to create the sort of normal policing conditions that we want to see."

Respect for RUC

Acknowledging the potential fall-out from the changes, he added: "We have to accept that there is a big gap in perception and experience of the RUC by the two traditions in Northern Ireland."

He also sought to underline his support for the force's officers.

"I tend to sympathise (with the view) that a little bit more respect for the sacrifices of the past and those members of the RUC who have lost their lives could have been shown in the Patten report.

"But having said that, I agree broadly with its analysis and I agree broadly with the approach they are taking."

His changes include plans to recruit from a 50/50 pool of each religion, axing the 3,000-strong reserve unit and merging CID and Special Branch into a new department to be known as C&E.

Trimble pressure

The only concessions to unionists could be the dilution of district partnership boards, which many feared would give the IRA's political wing Sinn Fein undue influence over the police force.

Ulster Unionist Security spokesman Ken Maginnis believes the boards will be given the go-ahead but says it would be a "recipe for disaster".

Sinn Fein president Gerry Adams has said the Patten plan must be implemented in full as policing is a "touchstone issue".

But unionists and many police officers are angry that proposals they so vigorously opposed could become law by October.

Democratic Unionist deputy leader Peter Robinson said Mr Patten was the "death warrant of the RUC" but he blamed Ulster Unionists for signing the Good Friday Agreement.

The announcement will heighten pressure on UUP leader David Trimble as he prepares for a crucial 12 February meeting of his party's ruling council.

A senior Ulster Unionist has warned that if his party is unable to prevent the Patten report from being implemented, it will call into question Mr Trimble's leadership.