The Ulster Unionist Party has said it will not give a response to the two governments' peace process blueprint as long as no actual decommissioning of IRA weapons has occurred.
Following a two-hour meeting of the party's parliamentary and Assembly members at the UUP's Belfast headquarters yesterday morning to discuss their position on the salvage package, the UUP leader, Mr David Trimble, emerged calling for decommissioning to take place as soon as possible.
"It was only if that package succeeded in providing movement from the republicans and nationalists that Ulster Unionists could support it.
"We have seen a step by republicans, but of course, it falls far short of what we need, which is to see decommissioning actually begin," Mr Trimble said.
"We have no alternative but to say to the republican movement that it's time you did the business. It was time you did it a long time ago."
Mr Trimble also criticised the SDLP for not endorsing the new policing service, accusing the party of "lacking political courage".
"The other area where we had hoped to see progress was policing, particularly with regard to the SDLP.
"May I say how deeply disappointed we are at the position the SDLP has adopted today, and how wholly inadequate is the SDLP's position. I have to say very clearly that this is not the way in which a serious political party should behave," he added.
The UUP deputy leader, Mr John Taylor - now Lord Kilclooney - stated that the decommissioning body's statement represented progress but stressed the need for further movement before his party could support the two governments' package.
"We want to see the product from both the IRA and the SDLP. The SDLP are still dragging their feet - they will not recommend Catholics to join our new police service, they won't appoint people to the Northern Ireland Police Board, and the IRA have still to produce their guns."
In an official statement published later, the UUP said it had difficulties with various elements of the package.
"In the absence of actual decommissioning in a manner to maximise public confidence by republicans and in the absence of the SDLP moving to support policing, there is nothing for Ulster Unionists to respond to. There are, moreover, matters in the governments' proposals, such as the amnesty for terrorists on the run, to which we take great exception.
"The UUP welcomes the fact that the method for decommissioning weapons has now been agreed with all the mainstream paramilitaries but what is needed now more than ever is an actual start to disarmament. Without this the package remains incomplete and totally unbalanced."
Mr Trimble later met the head of the Independent International Commission on Decommissioning, Gen John de Chastelain, to stress the urgency of an actual weapons handover.
The Northern Secretary, Dr John Reid, was last night examining a report from the RUC Chief Constable, Sir Ronnie Flanagan, into the activities of the UDA/UFF. Dr Reid had requested the security assessment last week following the murder of Belfast teenager Gavin Brett.
The Red Hand Defenders, a cover name used in the past by both the UDA and the LVF, admitted responsibility for the killing. The UDA is officially on ceasefire.