Three loyalist paramilitary groups - the UDA, UVF and Red Hand Commando - have said they will fully support the rule of law and expel members involved in criminality.

A statement to coincide with the 20th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement was read by the Reverend Adam Parker at the Linen Hall Library in Belfast.

The statement said: "The Good Friday Agreement was created in a spirit of accommodation and its promise was a more inclusive Northern Ireland.

"There would have been no agreement without the involvement of loyalists."

It added: "For too long, we have been berated for our past and not able to imagine a better future.

"We must challenge that outlook by no longer being apologists for conflict, but advocates for change and working to create a society that is at ease with itself in its diversity and difference.

"We fully support the rule of law in all areas of life and emphatically condemn all forms of criminal activity.

"Individuals who use criminality to serve their own interests at the expense of loyalist communities are an affront to the true principles of loyalism.

"Any engagement in criminal acts by any individuals within our organisations will be regarded as placing those persons outside the membership."

The statement has been welcomed by PSNI Chief Constable George Hamilton as an "explicit commitment to peace and the rule of law".

He also acknowledged "the hard work of those in progressive loyalism" and encouraged them to continue efforts to completely remove illegal paramilitary organisations.

However, the Chief Constable added: "Twenty years on from the peace agreement, it is disappointing that we are still in a place where there are statements about paramilitary violence and criminality.

"Our communities do not want to live in fear of violence. The Loyalist Community Council must support people in giving information to the police.

"There are no grey areas when it comes to the rule of law."

Three former senior Protestant church leaders have backed the initiative and appeared at Monday's press conference.

Former Methodist president Harold Good said if the church leaders were not convinced of the loyalists' "total sincerity" they would not have lent their support.

The UDA's Jackie McDonald said "genuine loyalists" would have no issue with the statement, adding: "Anyone outside loyalism calling themselves a loyalist will have massive problems with it."

He added: "It wasn't written on the back of a beer mat in some club or pub.

"It's taken a lot of serious soul searching - a lot of thinking about the problems we've had in the past, thinking about the problems we have at the minute.

"We are beginning process here and for once we need people, the media, the politicians, the PSNI, everyone to support us and accept that this is a genuine statement.

"We intend to carry it out."

DUP leader Arlene Foster said: "It is time for those who use criminality to get off the backs of their communities. Their objectives are not political but rather power and profit.

"I support the police in putting them out of business and behind bars once and for all.

"Violence has no place in our society."

Ulster Unionist leader Robin Swann said: "It is long past time that those who continue to threaten and exert control over communities in Northern Ireland were gone.

"They must pack up and get off the backs of our people, or face the inside of a jail cell.

"Today's statement is welcome, but it will not be measured by the words it contains, but by the deeds that back it up and the difference felt in the lives of people living within loyalist communities."