Northern Secretary Peter Hain made it clear last night that the Scottish talks next month, rather than the November 24th deadline for a devolution deal, was the key period in determining whether a Sinn Féin/DUP power-sharing agreement was possible.
He hinted that the British and Irish governments might begin winding down their efforts to strike a deal if it was apparent from the talks in St Andrew's, from October 11th-13th that Sinn Féin and the DUP remained deadlocked.
Mr Hain, who played something of a carrot-and-stick game with Northern politicians yesterday, repeated that if a deal was not achieved by November 24th then Assembly members would lose their pay and allowances.
Technically, however, the Assembly is not due to formally cease until May 2007 - the completion of the full four-year term of the Assembly that was elected in 2003. This led some politicians to believe that the technical continuation of the Assembly would provide leeway for additional negotiations even were the MLAs to lose their salaries.
However, Mr Hain, on BBC Northern Ireland's Hearts and Minds programme last night, emphasised that the Scottish talks chaired by Taoiseach Bertie Ahern and British prime minister Tony Blair were critical for establishing if agreement could be achieved by the deadline.
If it could not be struck by November 24th he said that as well as stopping pay and allowances from November 25th "what I will have to do the following week is introduce into parliament an order dissolving the 2003 Assembly".
"And then it isn't a question of Sinn Féin coming to the DUP or the DUP walking down the Falls Road to Sinn Féin offices and saying we would really like to do a deal after all because we have suddenly woken up and realised that the government was serious after all and we are serious about this deadline," said Mr Hain.
Earlier yesterday, while addressing the Confederation of British Industry in Belfast, Mr Hain focused on the positive rather than the negative.
He told business leaders that were devolution restored Northern Executive ministers could look again at decisions taken by direct-rule ministers relating to increased domestic and industrial rates, water charges, and the abolition of the 11-Plus transfer exam.
For years many Northern politicians and business people have urged a harmonisation of corporation tax between the North and the South, which is 12 per cent in the Republic and effectively 19 per cent in the UK.
While any change would be a matter for the British chancellor Gordon Brown, Mr Hain suggested that a Northern Executive might have a reasonable chance to persuade whoever was chancellor to make Northern business as competitive as the South in terms of corporation tax.
"The rate at which corporation tax can be levied has been raised with me by business interests more than once. The reality is that no UK cabinet minister can credibly go to the chancellor and argue for a preferential corporation tax rate for one part of the UK.
"But powerful representation could be made by an Executive speaking with the authority of a devolved government. I can't say how the chancellor would respond, but at least the case could be made."
Meanwhile, DUP MEP Jim Allister said his party should feel under no pressure to strike a deal by the deadline. "November 24th will come and November 24th will go, but until the IRA and its criminality are gone, I see no basis for optimism."
He suggested that putting off a deal until the next British general election scheduled for 2009 could suit the DUP's ambitions.
"The next election could well produce the rich opportunities of a hung parliament. So why rush our fences? We can afford to wait more than most."
Meanwhile, former Ulster Unionist junior minister in the Northern Executive, James Leslie, has announced his defection from the UUP to the Conservative Party.
