Unionists will undermine the Belfast Agreement as a whole if they try to "chip away" at the British government's police reforms, a nationalist minister on the Northern Ireland Executive warned tonight.
SDLP Finance Minister Mark Durkan claimed a joint move on policing by David Trimble's Ulster Unionists and the Rev Ian Paisley's Democratic Unionists would have "wider implications" for the peace accord.
Following a 40-minute discussion between Mr Trimble and Mr Paisley at Stormont, Mr Durkan claimed the talks were "appealing to the most negative instincts in unionism - the most negative instincts as far as the need for a change in policing is concerned and the most negative instincts as far as the future of the Agreement is concerned.
"The fact is that it is quite clear that there are elements within unionism who are trying to use the policing issue to rally further to undermine the Good Friday Agreement.
"I would hope David Trimble would have the sense, whatever other meetings he has with other parties, would have the sense to recognise that the Government put forward a policing implementation plan in the context of a package to secure the full Agreement.
"If parties are seeking to turn round and chip away and remove some of the key provisions in the implementation plan, they will be doing so quite clearly in their own terms to undermine the Patten Report but I would remind particularly those unionists who claim to be pro-Agreement that the implementation plan is part of a wider package that is aimed at securing the full implementation of the Agreement."
Mr Durkan's warning followed claims from Sinn Féin national chairman Mitchel McLaughlin that the meeting between the pro-Agreement UUP and anti-Agreement DUP proved Mr Trimble and his party were now opposed to the accord.
Both unionist parties remained tight-lipped about their leaders' first formal meeting since the signing of the Belfast Agreement in 1998.
However a DUP spokesman revealed Mr Trimble and Mr Paisley "agreed to resume their talks later this week" - probably Friday.
Both parties have withheld nominations to Northern Ireland's 19-member Policing Board, with the UUP urging the Government to answer several concerns about policing.
Unionists are anxious how the board, which the nationalist SDLP has said it will join but Sinn Féin is boycotting, will be made representative of the entire community.
In particular, they are worried that the bulk of the nine British government-appointed nominees will be stacked in nationalism's favour to balance the board in the wake of a Sinn Féin boycott and the implications of that if Sinn Féin eventually decides to take the two seats it is entitled to.
The British government is eager to set up the board by the end of the month but if the political institutions collapse or are suspended because of the dispute over IRA weapons, Northern Ireland Secretary John Reid may be forced to appoint a shadow Policing Board.
Unionists have also expressed concern about plans to scale down the force in the face of rising crime and ongoing paramilitary violence, the participation of ex-prisoners on local community police liaison boards and the issue of flags and emblems.
Despite Dr Reid's claims that the policing plan is non-negotiable, some in the UUP and the DUP believe the British government will have to amend it in the face of united unionist opposition.
PA