SDLP leader Mr Mark Durkan said yesterday he could no longer take for granted any assurances from Prime Minister Tony Blair.
Mr Durkan accused Mr Blair of creating a dangerous political vacuum by his decision to postpone the Assembly elections from May 29th to the autumn and he warned that the vacuum could be filled by paramilitaries.
Mr Durkan called on the British government to hold elections next month.
"If we were as frustratingly close as Tony Blair said we were, there is no reason why we have to wait until the autumn, there is no reason why we have to go into open drift now after the weeks and months of drag that we have suffered and the two governments should be convening the parties into talks asking the parties to come forward with a common response to the joint declaration", he told reporters in Derry.
"One of the arguments Blair gave me for not pushing on and having the elections before the summer, in June, was the difficulty of having elections running into the marching season. I told him if he was worried about factors like the marching season, he had to wonder about what creating a political vacuum and creating a void in terms of this process was going to do".