The SDLP leader has pressed the British Prime Minister to call Assembly elections whether or not there is agreement between Sinn Féin and the UUP.
Mr Mark Durkan met Mr Tony Blair at Downing Street yesterday for an hour and said he pushed for "certainty".
He said the electorate needed certainty that there would be elections and certainty that the Joint Declaration "is the [British\] government's only agenda".
Criticising the emphasis on contacts between Mr David Trimble and Mr Gerry Adams, Mr Durkan added: "The Joint Declaration is the implementation plan for the agreement. Neither Sinn Féin nor the Ulster Unionist Party can continue to reject all or parts of the joint declaration and continue to call themselves fully pro-agreement."
He branded the seven meetings so far between Sinn Féin and the UUP as "show talks" and warned: "Neither can be allowed to be unpick or cherry-pick the declaration. The government must call the election now and SF and the UUP must make the call whether they are really up for all the agreement.
"As one party who has never held back on any part of the agreement or held up its implementation, we told the Prime Minister to stop holding back the election."
Earlier, Sinn Féin's chief negotiator countered the growing pessimism of an agreed position between unionists and republicans. Mr Martin McGuinness said: "We have to recognise there are huge problems on all sides of this process, but there has to be hope and optimism injected into the situation."
He repeated confidently that there would be an election and that the argument in favour of one had been won. "There will be an election, whether there is a deal or whether there is no deal.
"What is preferable is that we have an election against the backdrop of a deal, but if we don't get a deal, and I've not conceded defeat on that issue, then there should be an election anyway."
Following the Taoiseach's warning on Tuesday of a "total mess" if an election were fought against a background of deadlock, Mr McGuinness said he was working for an election and a deal. He added that contacts with the UUP were ongoing and that the next seven to nine days would be critical for the peace process.
An Alliance Party delegation met the Northern Secretary yesterday and warned that the emphasis on a SF-UUP deal was unhealthy.
Mr David Ford, the party leader, said: "Efforts to restore the political process seem to be overly dependent upon the talks between David Trimble and Gerry Adams. It remains to be seen if a deal can in fact be reached.
"However, it would be a major mistake to assume that any understandings reached between them would necessarily be acceptable to the rest of society."