The SDLP has rejected Sinn Fein's claim that the British-Irish blueprint for a political settlement in Northern Ireland offers a solution which is purely internal and partitionist and that the two governments have diluted the Joint Framework Document.
Clear differences between the Sinn Fein and SDLP analyses of the Proposed Heads of Agreement document were exposed at Castle Buildings in Stormont yesterday when the parties gathered to discuss a proposed new assembly for Northern Ireland.
While the Sinn Fein delegation to London, led by Mr Gerry Adams, complained to the British Prime Minister, Mr Tony Blair, that the British-Irish paper was partitionist, the Sinn Fein Northern chairman, Mr Mitchel McLaughlin, made the same point at Stormont. He also argued that the two governments had diluted their Framework Document.
However, in what were described as "robust" and "frank" exchanges in yesterday's Strand One session dealing with matters internal to Northern Ireland, the SDLP talks team, led by the party's deputy leader, Mr Seamus Mallon, insisted that the Framework Document was "still on the table and still absolutely relevant".
Mr Mallon said: "Each and every paragraph in the Propositions document is taken directly from the Framework Document; in some instances, almost word by word." He challenged "anyone with any credibility" to assert that the paper was partitionist.
"People should understand that where you have a North-South Ministerial Council working on an all-Ireland basis, and implementing bodies to make executive decisions on an all-island basis, by no stretch of the imagination could that be described as a partitionist approach", Mr Mallon added.
The SDLP leader, Mr John Hume, also opposed the Sinn Fein analysis. "It is quite self-evident the discussions are not leading to an internal settlement", he said.
However, Mr McLaughlin maintained that there had been a range of departures from the Framework Document, which Sinn Fein did not endorse, but had accepted "as the basis for discussion". He said that these included an assembly internal to Northern Ireland, a dilution of cross-border institutions and the "elevation" of the proposed Council of the Isles.
The Ulster Unionist Party leader, Mr David Trimble, said that the SDLP, like all the other parties except Sinn Fein, was prepared to accept the British-Irish paper as the basis for discussion. If Sinn Fein "were not careful they would become marginalised" from the talks process, he said.
Mr Reg Empey, a negotiator for the UUP at the talks, said that by definition no internal settlement could emerge from the current talks because they were founded on the three sets of relations between the two islands.
"Sinn Fein has been saying they don't want an internal settlement, describing everything as an internal settlement. An internal settlement is Strand One, full stop. If we are engaged, as we are, in a three-strand process, by definition it is not an internal settlement, much as we would like it to be", Mr Empey said.
"We have been prepared to look at other options, including these other relationships between North and South, and the wider totality of relationships. And I think it is disingenuous to go out carping that the document was a recipe for a purely internal settlement. The fact remains that we are dealing with matters that are without Northern Ireland and, by definition, are not internal."
Asked if his comments would not alarm the DUP opponents of the talks, Mr Empey said that the DUP leader, the Rev Ian Paisley, could hardly disagree since he had been a party to the three-stranded talks approach established by the former Northern Secretary, Mr Peter Brooke, in 1991.
The leader of the Ulster Democratic Party, Mr Gary McMichael, accused Sinn Fein of not engaging seriously in the talks. He said that it was dealing in "pipe-dreams" and arguing about "unrealisable aspirations".
The Progressive Unionist Party's spokesman, Mr David Ervine, said that it was the duty of the talks participants to make progress given the escalation in violence. "The signals of failure are too dangerous to send into this community and therefore we should be redoubling our efforts to forge ahead within the negotiations", he added.
The North's Political Development Minister, Mr Paul Murphy, said that yesterday's negotiations had been "constructive, businesslike and useful". He added that he would be producing a discussion paper for the parties on possible future institutional arrangements for Northern Ireland.
Today's talks will deal with Strand Two North-South issues. Next week the participants will travel to London for three days of negotiations on Strand Two.
An Alliance Party spokesman, Dr Philip McGarry, said that rejection by Sinn Fein and the DUP of the British-Irish document should not be allowed to block progress in the negotiations.
