THE British and Irish governments are sending a discussion document to all the political parties in the North, except Sinn Fein, outlining the structure for remaining talks at Stormont.
The Northern Secretary, Sir Patrick Mayhew, and the Tanaiste, Mr Spring, made the announcement after a meeting at Stormont Castle in Belfast yesterday to review progress after the first week of proximity talks.
The talks will resume for their second and final week on Monday. The difficulties surrounding the consultative process was evident when a planned brief meeting between Mr Spring and Sir, Patrick lasted for over three hours.
Mr Spring said the first five days of proximity talks had shown the differences between the parties over what form elections should take.
Sir Patrick said the document was not a blueprint from the governments but merely set out ideas. He hoped it could help give structure to next week's discussions.
The document is understood to have been faxed to some of the political parties last night. It was not released to the media. The Northern Ireland Office insisted it was the IRA's refusal to reinstate its ceasefire that excluded Sinn Fein from the talks.
Sinn Fein said the two governments were still tied up with procedure and were not dealing with the main issue. The party's president, Mr Gerry Adams, said the outcome of yesterday's meeting showed that the British government was "still stalling".
The Government is believed to be very concerned about Sinn Fein's continued exclusion from proximity talks.
Mr Spring, however, said he was looking forward to meeting the Ulster Unionist Party leader, Mr David Trimble, in Dublin on Monday.
Meanwhile, the SDLP and the DUP agreed that any elections should be based on a list system with Northern Ireland voting - as a single constituency - for parties and not particular candidates. The UUP and Alliance oppose this idea.
The SDLP and the DUP held a cordial meeting at the Dunadry Inn, on the outskirts of Belfast yesterday.
The DUP leader, the Rev Ian Paisley, said the list system was the fairest way of electing delegates to negotiations.
The SDLP deputy leader, Mr Seamus Mallon, said there had been "a meeting of minds" on the form of elections and he hoped the British government would pay heed to the views of both parties.