Democratic Unionists were last night accused of setting out to wreck the Belfast Agreement after a senior party member revealed plans to renegotiate it after the next Assembly election.
The SDLP's deputy leader, Ms Brid Rodgers, rounded on the DUP after the East Londonderry MP, Mr Gregory Campbell, said his party intended to prevent the election of a first minister in the Northern Ireland Assembly following the next Stormont poll.
Mr Campbell told an Ulster Unionist branch in south Belfast that in order for the agreement to work it had to have the support of both communities.
He said the agreement recognised this by requiring a majority of unionist votes and a majority of nationalist votes in the Assembly for the election of a first and deputy first minister.
"This provision effectively ensures that each Assembly is a referendum on the Belfast Agreement and that at any time the consent of either community can be withdrawn," he argued.
"That is why, regardless of what the SDLP may say about there being no renegotiation of the Belfast Agreement, the clear reality is that just as any new settlement must be agreed between the parties, the agreement must also have the continuing endorsement of the parties.
"I can emphatically state that if the Democratic Unionist Party wins enough support at the next Assembly election we will prevent the election of a first minister and ensure there is a renegotiation of the Belfast Agreement."
Ms Rodgers claimed his comments had implications for those in Sinn Féin who believed they could cut a deal with the DUP.
"The DUP want to scrap the North-South Ministerial Council which they boycotted in government," she said. "They want to undo the protections in the Assembly that prevent majority rule. And they want to abolish the inclusive executive which brings together nationalist, unionist and republicans working together on a common agenda.