Following a meeting with US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in New York yesterday the First and Deputy First Ministers signalled that progress has been made on the policing and justice devolution impasse.

The two men also said they stand ready to sell any future package to their constituents, if and when a final package is agreed.

Commenting on the meeting that he and McGuinness had with Prime Minster Gordon Brown at New York’s Waldorf Astoria hotel on Wednesday evening, Mr Robinson said that they had “honed down the areas of difference” between themselves and Mr Brown.

Mr Robinson said that “a handful of issues” remain to be resolved, and that the financial underpinning of the package will be crucial.

He said that once that is achieved “the imperative will be to build public confidence. And I have already said that I do not intend to be neutral in doing that.”

In a separate interview with the Telegraph, Mr McGuinness said: “We have made steady progress since the initial meeting in Downing Street last week.

“And I warmly welcome Peter Robinson’s statement in New York that, if the funding issue between us and the British Government can be resolved, he is prepared to go for this without delay, and bring it to his party to seek their approval.”

He insisted that it is “absolutely imperative that the policing and justice issue is resolved before Christmas”.

The pair also met with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton — who is due to visit Belfast, Dublin and London next month — amidst a full day of meetings in New York aimed at |drumming up new American investment in Northern Ireland.