The Irish and British governments have put off talks due this week between ministers and the Northern Ireland parties.
They were to have met at Stormont on Wednesday - the date set some weeks ago by Northern Ireland Secretary Peter Hain as a deadline for a first-stage agreement on possible rule changes for a future Assembly.
The talks are off because Tony Blair and Taoiseach Bertie Ahern are meeting in London on Wednesday, with Minister for Foreign Affairs Dermot Ahern and Peter Hain expected to attend.
In Belfast, there was a suspicion calling off the talks had more to do with a lack of progress. Last month Mr Blair pulled out of an expected visit to Belfast to meet the parties - again because there was little or no sign of a breakthrough in the political impasse.
A Downing Street spokesman said the Northern Ireland parties would not be invited to take part in the Wednesday meeting and there was little likelihood of either a joint British-Irish news conference or statement afterwards.
Ulster Unionist Party leader Sir Reg Empey said he was not surprised the Belfast talks had been cancelled.
"While an embarrassment for the government it was better to call 'time out' on what was becoming a process that did not have the support of most of the parties," he said.
Former Northern Ireland Secretary Paul Murphy suggested yesterday the Assembly should be restored even if the current talks failed to find agreement.
He said getting the politicians back in the Stormont chamber would force them to either form a government or face a new election.