Mr Seamus Mallon has said that the SDLP will resist any unionist efforts to isolate Sinn Fein within the talks process. He was speaking after members of the Ulster Unionist Party team called for more behind-the-scenes negotiations from which Sinn Fein would be excluded.
UUP sources at Stormont argued yesterday that the talks could properly address the critical constitutional issues only through bilateral and trilateral meetings.
At present the Strand Two North-South talks and the Strand One element dealing with matters internal to Northern Ireland involve eight parties and, usually, the two governments sitting around a large conference table and presenting their positions.
The UUP is now arguing that this system is too unwieldy. It is calling for a "Mark II" version of the 1991-92 talks in which only four parties were involved, the UUP, SDLP, Alliance and the DUP (which is boycotting these talks).
"If we are to get down to the nitty-gritty it will have to be in bilateral and trilateral session. The current system allows for too much posturing," said one UUP negotiator.
Mr Michael Browne, a member of the Sinn Fein talks team, accused the UUP of trying to isolate Sinn Fein.
The SDLP deputy leader, Mr Seamus Mallon, expressed some suspicion about the motivation of the UUP. "If it's an attempt to exclude Sinn Fein then it's a gauche tactic, and will not work," he commented.
"We have arrived at the nittygritty, except some people haven't given the issues their full attention," he added. This apparently referred to the presentations the UUP made in the past two days in relation to how constitutional matters would be tackled.
The SDLP, in its submission on Strand Two and Three constitutional matters, submitted a detailed seven-page paper arguing for constitutional change. Sinn Fein presented an equally-detailed document calling for all-Ireland national self-determination.
The SDLP submission argues for a "balanced constitutional approach to the creation of new arrangements on this island" which took account of "the legitimate nationalist perspective."
The UUP's submission on Strand Two and Three constitutional issues is five lines long and states: "The British Isles are divided into two sovereign states, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, on the one hand, and the Republic of Ireland on the other. In international law there are and ought to be no constitutional issues between these two states.
"Insofar as it does not already do so, the law and practice of each state should conform with the above statement."
The UUP's paper on Strand One constitutional matters is 21 lines long, and can be encapsulated in one passage which states that the UUP "will not enter discussions on any matter that would, in its opinion, dilute or diminish Northern Ireland's constitutional position within the Union, nor is it mandated to do so."
The paper also argues that the territorial integrity of Northern Ireland is copper-fastened in international law.
UUP sources argue that whatever about their brevity in explaining their constitutional position, real progress on such critical issues could be developed only through bilateral and trilateral meetings.
The UUP leader, Mr David Trimble, called for the dropping of the territorial claim in Articles 2 and 3 of the Constitution, saying their inclusion "does not serve anyone well in the modern European context."
