Conservative leader David Cameron has urged political leaders in Northern Ireland to find a way to achieve devolution of policing and justice.
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Speaking to UTV at the Conservatives annual party conference in Manchester, Mr Cameron said:
"I would encourage all the players in this important situation to try and achieve the devolution of policing and justice."
"Everyone wants to see it happen, we know it needs to happen, we want devolution to work", Mr Cameron told Paul Clark.
"We should all try to come to an agreement about how we can make it work and make it last."
His message comes after a previous warning that there would be no blank cheque to fund such a move under a Conservative government.
On Monday, Gordon Brown flew into Northern Ireland as efforts to break the political impasse over policing and justice intensify.
The Prime Minister is holding talks with party leaders including DUP First Minister Peter Robinson and Sinn Fein Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness, as well as new PSNI Chief Constable Matt Baggott.
The issue of financing the transfer of policing and justice powers to Stormont has proved a contentious sticking point, with Sinn Fein keen to complete a deal as soon as possible while the DUP insists the monetary terms are not yet satisfactory.
'Wholly irresponsible'
Mr Cameron also told UTV that Northern Ireland would not be exempt from cuts his party is proposing to address the state of the UK economy.
He said: "No one can be exempt from the need for our whole country to live within its means. And there are two approaches to this - you can do what the Prime Minister did last week in Brighton and ignore the whole issue of our deficit. I think it is wholly irresponsible.
"Or you can do what we're doing which is announcing some proposals this week which would help us get this deficit down."
The Conservatives have promised to force hundreds of thousands off sickness benefits as the party battles to focus attention on its plans for government and away from a fresh row over Europe.
A £25-a-week state help cut for up to half a million claimants expected to be proved by tests to be fit for work is planned to help pay for plans to use more private firms to get people into jobs.
But Mr Cameron's bid to put employment at the centre of the party's annual conference in Manchester was dealt a blow when Irish voters' approval of the EU's Lisbon treaty renewed pressure on him over a promised UK referendum.
The party leader, who is only committed to holding a referendum as long as the treaty is not yet fully in force, refused to bow to Euro-sceptic pressure to commit to a public poll even if the treaty has been ratified by all states.
He insisted he was not prepared to speculate on that scenario for as long as the two remaining member states, the Czech Republic and Poland, had yet to complete the process.
© UTV News