MR JOHN Major has told the SDLP that he hopes to break the procedural logjam in the Stormont talks process by the end of next week. Meanwhile, senior nationalists last night warned that the inter party talks would collapse if unionists do not swiftly resolve the dispute over the rules of procedure, ground rules and opening agenda for the process.
The stark warning came after a tense, hour long meeting between the British Prime Minister and an SDLP delegation, led by the party leader, Mr John Hume, at 10 Downing Street.
Meanwhile, it was confirmed that SDLP members are preparing to submit their resignations to the clerk of the Northern Ireland Forum. Mr Seamus Mallon, the party's deputy leader, commented. "The forum is a sideshow which should never have been created, and we're not going to waste time in it."
Mr Hume said that the prime minister had not asked the party to reconsider its decision to resign from the forum. And while the SDLP leader reaffirmed his commitment to the talks process, which was "central to the search for lasting agreement between our divided people", this was clearly a tense precursor to today's equally difficult meeting of the Anglo Irish Inter Governmental Conference.
Mr Mallon said that they left Mr Major and the Northern Secretary, Sir Patrick Mayhew in no doubt about the damage done" by the events in the North, last week. He repeated his charge that the Drumcree confrontation had amounted to "a challenge to authority by those led by the Orange Order and by the leader of the Ulster Unionist Party".
The tone of the exchanges no inside No 10. It is understood that Mr Major's was told last week's events, in particular the decision to reverse the re routing order on the Portadown parade, had created a "pan Catholic front" in the North and presented opportunities to Sinn Fein and the IRA "which they could, never have dreamt of.
The SDLP delegation impressed on Mr Major the need to push forward developments at Stormont to clear the for the, leaders before the summer break and ensure speedy movement into the substantive negotiations in the "three strands".
Sources close to the prime minister later confirmed they hope to bring the procedural discussions to a close and move into substantive dialogue by the end of next week. Faced with the possibility that the Ulster Unionists might not agree, one SDLP source last George Mitchell, would have to decide if there was "sufficient consensus" to proceed.
However, there is little belief within the SDLP that the talks process is capable of proceeding positively. And there was irritation last night that Mr Major had failed to give the party the assurance, in terms it sought, that the British government remains committed to the proposals in the Joint Framework Document.
The prime minister seemingly told the SDLP that, he "stood by the principles of the Joint Framework Document". But this did, not satisfy the SDLP's request for an assurance that the Joint Framework Document would be, placed before the inter party talks as the agreed British/Irish position.
Mr Major was told that the principles of the Joint Framework proposals, as they concerned individual and communal rights to parity of esteem, had been "trampled underfoot" last week.