Northern Ireland's Chief Constable met members of his oversight body yesterday to explain his controversial decision to axe a police reserve unit.

Matt Baggott outlined his rationale for scrapping the 440-strong Full Time Reserve (FTR) to the NI Policing Board as the political fall-out from the move rumbled on, with the Democratic Unionists under mounting pressure to clarify whether or not the move will see them withdraw their support for devolving policing powers to Stormont.

After the private three-hour meeting in board headquarters, the chief again made clear he would not be reversing his stance.

"I explained in full our decision to carry on with the phasing out with the Full Time Reserve and our plans in place to improve and increase the numbers of police officers on the streets," he said.

Mr Baggott's decision to push ahead with the phasing out of the FTR - which is required as part of a long-standing programme of police reforms - has become entangled in the wider negotiations on transferring law and order powers from Westminster.

The DUP reaction to the move has attracted most focus, with senior party member Jeffrey Donaldson indicating on Monday that it had the potential to break the deal over devolution.

However, party leader Peter Robinson has been less definitive on the issue, stressing the importance of ensuring the reservists are retained in some capacity within the PSNI - potentially in civilianised jobs.

This has led to the DUP being accused by rivals of sending out mixed messages and playing politics with the issue.

Today Mr Baggott said reservists would be entitled to apply for civilian posts like any other individual.

"We are always in the process of looking at civilianisation," he said.

"We are releasing a lot of police officers back to the streets - anyone with the skills and experience for those jobs (they have vacated) are quite entitled to apply."

Unionists and officers representative body the NI Police Federation have claimed Mr Baggott's decision is foolhardy given the current threat from dissident republicans.

But the chief has stressed the axing of the FTR will not result in a reduction in frontline policing, as an ongoing initiative to get desk-bound officers back on the beat would ensure that all positions would be filled.

Earlier this week Mr Donaldson indicated that scrapping the FTR was a deal breaker for his party.

"We believe that in the absence of resolving this matter and some other issues like parades and PPWs (personal protection weapons for former security force members) and so on, that the public confidence simply isn't there to allow devolution to proceed," he said.

But last night DUP leader Peter Robinson emerged from a meeting with the Chief Constable and said his party's sole precondition was securing community confidence for the devolution of policing and justice.

Mr Robinson said that if the reserve is phased out in keeping with wider police reforms, his party believed frontline policing must be protected. He added that former reservists, who he said were a valuable police resource, should have a chance to play a future role in the service, where it is understood administrative posts are to be created.

In a further development the DUP leader released a statement this morning that said: "We will not interfere with the Chief Constable exercising his operational independence but we and the public will make a judgment whether it (scrapping the FTR) assists in, or detracts from, reaching the necessary level of community confidence.

"If community confidence is not in place we will not agree to devolving these sensitive functions."

SDLP leader Mark Durkan was critical of how Sinn Fein has handled the devolution debate, but he added: "Then we have the DUP who seem to be in a similar state of disarray with Peter Robinson in a complete dither.

"Now is the time for the double-speak and double standards to end on the devolution of policing and justice. Responsible leadership is needed to deliver this important and politically sensitive issue."

Leader of the hardline Traditional Unionist Voice (TUV) Jim Allister also claimed the DUP was "in complete disarray".

"Does the DUP require the FTR as an entity to be retained in order for policing and justice to be devolved or do they not?" he said.

"Let's have a clear 'yes' or 'no' answer to this question, no more obfuscation or refuge in flexible language about 'resources'."

He asked where other senior party figures stood on the issue and named Nigel Dodds, Gregory Campbell, David Simpson and William McCrea, who have previously been said to be cool on a deal with republicans.

The Government is continuing to hold talks with the Democratic Unionists and Sinn Fein on the devolution of policing and justice responsibility to the Stormont Assembly.

The offer of a £1 billion Government package to fund the move has been accepted by Sinn Fein, but has so far failed to persuade the DUP to agree to a final date for devolution.

Republicans, who once said a deal could be secured before Christmas, yesterday said they would accept an agreement before Christmas that included a firm date for the devolution of the powers.

But Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness warned that failure to secure agreement before Christmas risked "deep trouble".

The DUP has said it will not be pressured into meeting a deadline set by republicans.

Sinn Fein President Gerry Adams today said unionist politicians were being tested on their willingness to accept equality, though he claimed the unionist public was more ready for a deal.

"You also have to be a bit philosophical, because when people are in the position in terms of political elites, or they had their own way for such a long time, and then in comes a new dispensation which changes all of that, there's bound to be resistance," he said.

"But leadership is about I suppose meeting the challenges. My notional view is that grassroots unionism is up for this. They want things to be worked out."