SDLP leader Mark Durkan has warned the British and Irish governments that their planned initiative to revive the Stormont Assembly could ultimately enable the DUP to claim the death of the Belfast Agreement.
Mr Durkan's stark warning came in an address to a packed Westminster reception marking the launch of the SDLP's new London Group.
With British prime minister Tony Blair and Taoiseach Bertie Ahern expected to unveil their new initiative in Armagh next week, Mr Durkan challenged the assumption in London and Dublin that the DUP would "take fright" when faced with the possible closure of the Assembly in the autumn.
Specifically referring to the British government, which has the power of decision to reconvene the Assembly, Mr Durkan said: "We are warning the government again now about its proposed way forward. They believe that the DUP will take fright at the thought of the Assembly being shut down in the autumn. That is a miscalculation. Winding the Assembly up might suit the DUP well enough - because it would allow them to declare the Good Friday agreement dead."
He added that with nine MPs now at Westminster, the DUP might feel "that they have the resources to weather" any resulting political storm. "That is why the DUP are welcoming the direction the governments are going in," said Mr Durkan: "They [the DUP] see it as helping their strategy to park the process and hold up progress."
The SDLP leader said that "instead of threatening the abolition of the Assembly and the putting of the agreement on ice", the two governments should be working "to get as much of the agreement going as we can now".
While Secretary of State Peter Hain talked about Assembly members failing to do their work, Mr Durkan said: "He needs to realise that, in fact, it is his refusal to restore all the institutions and run with a policy of maximising the agreement that is preventing MLAs doing their job."
Senior SDLP sources have confirmed that neither Mr Blair nor Mr Ahern has offered any private assessment suggesting grounds for believing that an initial rejection of powersharing by DUP leader the Rev Ian Paisley is likely to give way to agreement to form an Executive including Sinn Féin by the suggested "final" deadline in the autumn.
About 150 leading members of the London-Irish community attended the launch of the SDLP's London Group, which is intended to help cement the party's position and profile in London.