Two leading Ulster Unionists have said their party should reject the proposals put forward by the two governments to end the political crisis in the North.
Mr Jeffrey Donaldson, the anti-agreement MP, said he would be calling on a meeting of his party's officers, to be held tonight, to reject the proposals.
Mr Donaldson said the absence of specific proposals on decommissioning and an amnesty for paramilitaries on the run created enormous difficulties for the unionist community.
He said the rejection of the proposals should not be seen as "conditional", as even an act of decommissioning would not address the issues of policing and the amnesty.
Speaking earlier on BBC television, Mr Donaldson said: "It is very difficult to find things in this document which will be of benefit to those of us who want to see the political process move forward on the basis of respect for democratic processes. "There are major difficulties here and given the failure of the IRA to decommission, I don't think that this package of proposals is going anywhere."
Mr Donaldson's Westminster colleague, Mr David Burnside, said he expected the IRA would perform a "tokenistic" act of decommissioning that would fool nobody. He told the BBC he believed the organisation would seal the dumps that were already compromised.
Mr Burnside said such an exercise would not be enough to satisfy the Independent International Commission on Decommissioning, nor would it satisfy his party.
But the UUP leader, Mr David Trimble, said that, while the proposals on their own did not go far enough for his party, they might provide a way forward in combination with movement from nationalists and the IRA.
Mr Trimble said the document was unacceptable on its own. "But the paper, if it produces decommissioning on the part of republicans and a clear acceptance of the police and support for proper policing by nationalists, could create a different situation." He said his party could not be blamed for rejecting the package, unless decommissioning was guaranteed.
The 14-strong UUP officer board meets this evening to discuss the proposals, and later meetings of assembly members and MPs are expected.
The 1998 Northern Ireland Act stipulates that unless the Assembly is suspended, a new First Minister must be selected within six weeks or new elections called. Mr Trimble will have resigned six weeks ago next Sunday.
If no resolution of the impasse is reached then the Northern Secretary, Dr John Reid, will have three options. He can suspend the Assembly for one day, effectively "resetting" the six-week deadline, he can suspend the Assembly indefinitely, or set a date for new elections.
Dr Reid, meanwhile, rejected the suggestion that the British government had been talking to the IRA in secret.