An election pact between the Ulster Unionists and Alliance Party seemed all but impossible last night.
With nominations for the Westminster elections closing tomorrow, there is a number of constituencies where a split pro-agreement vote could enable anti-agreement candidates to take or retain seats. Newspaper reports had suggested that last-minute talks might take place between the UUP and Alliance yesterday, but the Alliance leader, Mr Sean Neeson, said there had been no meeting.
"I haven't spoken to them since Friday. To be honest, I haven't seen any point", he said. "We're just going to get the same old story."
It is understood that, at earlier talks, the UUP wanted Alliance to stand aside in South Antrim - where Mr David Burnside is trying to retake the seat lost to the Rev William McCrea in a by-election last year - as well as in North Down, Strangford and East Belfast.
It is believed that Alliance, which had already withdrawn from five constituencies, offered to withdraw from all except East Belfast if the UUP would give it a clear run against the DUP deputy leader, Mr Peter Robinson. This was turned down by the UUP.
Mr Neeson said that no progress had been made in negotiations and it was "difficult to see any being made".
He said that his party would now focus on the election. "We have to make sure we optimise our vote. In at least three constituencies we are the strongest pro-agreement candidate."
Mr Neeson rejected the proposition that by not standing aside his party was jeopardising the Belfast Agreement.
"We have already made significant gestures by not standing in marginal seats such as David Trimble's Upper Bann constituency", he said.
"If you're saying that we should just roll over, we are not in that game."
An Ulster Unionist spokesman said that the party was making no comment.
The DUP's deputy leader denied that his party was planning talks with the UUP to see if accommodations on seats in Fermanagh/South Tyrone and North Belfast were possible.
Mr Peter Robinson commented: "I'm director of elections and if it's happening nobody has bothered to tell me."
He said that his party would contest all constituencies except South Belfast, North Down and West Tyrone, where it had stood aside in favour of anti-agreement candidates.
If necessary, the DUP would stand in Fermanagh/South Tyrone, where the position of Mr James Dixon, who withdrew from the contest last week, was unclear.
Meanwhile, the Ulster Unionist leader, Mr David Trimble, was heckled on a walkabout in Banbridge, Co Down. One report said that a protester had grabbed Mr Trimble's tie, but a spokesman denied this.