Ulster Unionist Mr Jeffrey Donaldson has insisted the IRA must begin destroying its weapons before there can be any further reforms on policing or moves to demolish army watchtowers.
In an uncompromising message to the two governments, Mr Jeffrey Donaldson said his party was not in the business of trading off concessions in return for disarmament.
Mr Donaldson, a hardline critic of the Belfast Agreement, said that a final package of proposals due to be issued to the parties must include actual decommissioning.
"Weapons must be rendered permanently unusable and permanently unavailable. Talk of sealed arms dumps isn't enough," he said.
"Our bottom line is that there cannot be progress on any of the other issues until there is actual decommissioning and therefore we will want to see in any paper that emerges whether there are clear proposals for actual decommissioning to occur."
The Lagan Valley MP was speaking after five days of intense discussions at Weston Park on the Shropshire/Staffordshire border failed to break the deadlock in the Northern Ireland peace process.
With the negotiations at an end, the British and Irish leaders now have until August 12th to produce a blueprint for the full implementation of the Belfast Agreement that will be acceptable to all parties.
But the Ulster Unionist demand for decommissioning before progress on any other area can take place appears to be at odds with the government's determination to produce a set of inclusive, non-negotiable proposals. PA