The Ulster Unionist leader has blamed the IRA for prompting suspension of the Stormont institutions and accused Mr Tony Blair of taking "the wrong course" in not acting to expel Sinn Féin.
Mr David Trimble also warned that he was "frankly not prepared to be party to another fudge". Speaking at the Institute of Irish Studies at Liverpool University last night, he said: "I think many republicans understand that the continued existence of the IRA as a standing so-called 'army' is the most significant barrier to political progress," he said, adding that he regretted that Mr Gerry Adams's response in Monaghan to the Prime Minister's Belfast speech of October 17th had not been "more forthcoming".
Mr Trimble insisted that the onus for restoration of the institutions must rest with the paramilitaries both loyalist and republican. "A special burden applies to Sinn Féin," he said. "It was the actions of their counterparts in the IRA which brought about the current crisis. They are the only paramilitary-related party entitled to seats in the Executive."
He pointed to the level of support among Irish nationalists for the Belfast Agreement, more than 90 per cent. "Their wishes are being frustrated, not by unionism, but by the Provisional movement's failure to accept the logic of the agreement," he said.
He accused republicans of wanting to have their cake and eat it, adding: "If that is their attitude, and I hope it is not, then I and my party are prepared for a long suspension." Echoing language used by both Mr Blair and Mr Adams he called for "acts of completion, not more false dawns".
The British government was wrong to suspend the institutions, he said, suggesting that either the SDLP or the Taoiseach had advised Mr Blair not to send to the Assembly a motion calling for the expulsion of Sinn Féin for "breaching the definition of a ceasefire given to the House of Commons".
"The institutions need not be in the peril they are today," he added. "Another alternative might have been for the Sinn Féin ministers to have voluntarily withdrawn if they were really so concerned for the Assembly and the North-South Ministerial Council (NSMC).
"As I have said, I sincerely hope the suspension will be relatively short. Whether it is long or short, so long as the SDLP refuse to cut the umbilical cord that appears to link them with Sinn Féin, is in the hands of the paramilitaries. It is a tragedy that constitutional nationalism has given a veto on the Assembly and the NSMC to paramilitaries. That is a matter for them," Mr Trimble said.
He criticised the British Labour Party for barring British citizens in Northern Ireland from membership and said that orders-in-council were an insulting means of legislating for Northern Ireland.
Mr Trimble said he hoped for progress in the political process but he could see no point in elections if the electorate had seen no such progress.
Earlier the SDLP leader addressed pupils at the Royal Belfast Academical Institution and repeated his insistence that provisions and safeguards underwritten in the Belfast Agreement remained no matter what constitutional change in the North's status came about.
Mr Mark Durkan said: "Under the principle of consent, if a majority of people vote in a referendum to remain within the United Kingdom, then it will. If a majority of people in the North vote for a united Ireland, then there will be a united Ireland. Deciding on constitutional preferences should not involve calling into question any other part of the agreement."