The British Prime Minister met the leader of the SDLP, Mr John Hume, at Downing Street last night for a frank exchange of views on the talks process. Mr Tony Blair has met almost all the main political parties in Northern Ireland at Downing Street.
Among those who have yet to call to Number 10 this year are the leaders of Sinn Fein and the Women's Coalition.
After a 45-minute discussion with Mr Blair, Mr Hume said he welcomed the priority the British government had given to dealing with the problems in Northern Ireland.
During the meeting with Mr Blair, he said, the Prime Minister had demonstrated his "detailed interest" in the success of the peace process.
Flanked by his deputy, Mr Seamus Mallon MP, and Mr Eddie McGrady MP, Mr Hume said his party had put several proposals to the government about how the talks process might be speeded up.
Both sides discussed their thoughts on the peace process and the government's talks with all political parties in the North, he said.
But the decommissioning report - submitted to the British and Irish government's yesterday - was not on the agenda.
"We didn't discuss the decommissioning document. Our position on this is that we fully support the international commission's approach on decommissioning and that matter should be dealt with parallel to the talks process and that, of course, is what the commission is doing.
"Naturally we would hope that all of this continuing discussion on all sides will lead to us finally coming together on the real issues, reaching real agreement. The underlying principle of this whole process, which has to be restated repeatedly, is that there are no concessions being made by the government to any parties, and we strongly agree with that approach.
"Everything has to be worked out at the talks table and the Prime Minister's interest is to make sure those talks really work in achieving their objective," Mr Hume said.
In the House of Commons yesterday, Mr Blair urged the people of Northern Ireland to put aside their "ancient enmities" in the search for a lasting peace settlement. He was replying to Labour's Mr David Winnick (Walsall N), who warned: "If all sides put forward their maximum demands, show no flexibility or accommodation, not only would that be extremely disappointing, it would be tragedy for the people of Northern Ireland - the large majority of whom yearn for a lasting peace."