The Ulster Unionist Party has firmly denied that its absence from Downing Street yesterday morning was a snub to the talks which took place there under the auspices of the British Prime Minister, Mr Blair.
Sir Reg Empey said in Belfast yesterday his party was not informed about the planned discussions. "We asked . . . if we were required overnight and were told `no'," he said. "We've offered to have trilaterals. If they want to come and have trilaterals, we're here (in Belfast)."
In a press statement later, the UUP said claims that it had refused to meet Mr Blair and the party leaders were "completely and absolutely untrue".
The statement continued: "The aggressive and unprovoked attacks on the UUP by Sinn Fein regarding this morning's meeting amount to nothing more than a publicity stunt. It is time Gerry Adams stopped grandstanding and abusing the Prime Minister's diary and patience. "Everyone is waiting for Gerry Adams to declare when the republican movement is going to deliver on its obligations under the agreement and lift the threat of violence against the people of the United Kingdom."
Earlier, the Sinn Fein president warned that the Belfast Agreement would collapse if legislative powers were not transferred to the executive. Mr Adams said the Prime Minister had signalled to them he intended to run with his devolution programme in Northern Ireland on the same day as Scotland and Wales.
He told BBC Radio Ulster's Talkback programme: "Pro-agreement unionists must be in some despair. There is now a definite cut-off point on June 30th and unless the Ulster Unionists start to get their act in order around the imperative of this agreement, it is going to be finished."
In an "open letter" to the Prime Minister, leading Ulster Unionist Mr Dermot Nesbitt said the majority of the unionist community had reluctantly accepted prisoner releases but "remains to be convinced that paramilitaries will keep their bargain to end the violence for good".
The UUP leader, Mr David Trimble, said last night his party was working on "fresh ideas" to resolve the decommissioning deadlock. "I think our position is the same as that Mr Adams enunciated in Washington in March - that we have both got problems with this but we're prepared to jump together.
"Unfortunately, since then, Mr Adams seems to have developed cold feet. We have got to get back to a position where we are prepared to jump together."
While his party remained committed to finding a resolution, it also believed Sinn Fein could not sit in government without a credible start to the decommissioning of the IRA's weapons.
Mr Trimble also denied Ulster Unionists had snubbed Mr Blair, Sinn Fein and the SDLP earlier in the day by not turning up for a working breakfast at Downing Street. He insisted his party had left London the previous night on the understanding that there would be no further meetings.
The Alliance Party deputy leader, Mr Seamus Close, criticised unionists and nationalists over the continuing deadlock. "Tribalism and stubbornness should be buried in the holes of intransigence which some politicians have dug for themselves." The SDLP's Mr Sean Farren said there was a strong moral and political obligation on paramilitaries to "acknowledge the changing constitutional and political circumstances.
"Their acknowledgement should have been the first step in the process of decommissioning. As further progress was made, decommissioning should have been gradually advanced."
A further trilateral meeting between middle-ranking members of the UUP, SDLP and Sinn Fein was convened at Stormont yesterday afternoon.