The Northern Secretary has given a strong indication that Sinn Fein will be asked to leave the talks as a result of the RUC Chief Constable's statement that the IRA was responsible for two killings in Belfast last week.
Writing in the Belfast Sunday Life, Dr Mo Mowlam said no one wanted to negotiate "with a gun at their head", and that the talks process was open only to those who were committed to the principles of peace and democracy.
She said the Labour government had always sought to make the talks inclusive, but "fundamental principles" were at stake. "There can be no place in the negotiations for any party which demonstrably dishonours its commitment to those principles," she added.
Dr Mowlam also seemed to indicate that the talks could carry on without Sinn Fein. After outlining the role the two governments had played and the issues being addressed, she added: "We are determined to see these negotiations move forward with all the parties who are committed to peace and democracy."
Dr Mowlam also said that both she and the British Prime Minister, Mr Tony Blair, were "determined to meet the goal" of having an agreement by May. She disagreed profoundly with those who said the process was flawed, or doomed to failure.
Meanwhile the deputy leader of the Ulster Unionist Party, Mr John Taylor, has demanded that the United States ambassador, Mrs Jean Kennedy Smith, withdraw an invitation to Mr Gerry Adams to attend a reception at her residence tonight.
All the talks participants, including the Sinn Fein president, have been invited to a buffet dinner by Mrs Kennedy Smith at her Phoenix Park residence.
Mr Taylor accused the ambassador of trying "to pave the way" for Mr Adams to be invited to the White House, either at the end of the month or for St Patrick's Day.
He said Sinn Fein and the IRA were inextricably linked.
Mr Adams could not claim that Sinn Fein was not connected to the IRA "when he is in a position to confirm that the IRA has not gone away."
Mr Taylor said Sinn Fein had no right to be present at the multiparty talks and had clearly broken the Mitchell Principles. He called on the Government in Dublin to expel the party from the process.
The Ulster Democratic Party leader, Mr Gary McMichael, has said he believes that all unionist parties will have to "reconsider their position in the talks" if Sinn Fein is allowed to stay. The UDP was expelled from the talks at the end of January after a number of killings by the UFF.
The president of the Methodist Church, the Rev Norman Taggart, has said that "lines of communication" should be kept open with Sinn Fein in the event of the party being put out of the talks. When parties were isolated they became more extreme, and that was not in anybody's interest, he said.