The British government may have hindered progress in the Northern Ireland peace process by insisting negotiations on police reform are closed, it was claimed tonight.
Sinn Fein sources criticised Northern Ireland Secretary Dr John Reid for claiming the implementation plan, which has received the backing of the nationalist SDLP, was "non-negotiable".
A party source said the policing plan fell short of Patten and needs a lot more work if it is to be accepted by the nationalist community.
"So in the light of Dr John Reid's comments, we must ask ourselves if policing is off the table, how can we resolve all the other issues such as demilitarisation, arms, the equality agenda?
"By pulling down the shutters on the negotiations, he is actually laying the foundations for a worse crisis when the current six-week period before an election of a first and deputy first minister ends."
The comments followed party chairman Mr Mitchel McLaughlin's claim that with ongoing loyalist attacks on nationalist property including the constituency office of Mr Martin McGuinness, there needed to be a "reality check" in the process.
He said: "We should be getting policing right. We should be getting the institutions back in a way that they are protected against the unionist veto. We are heading into a serious logjam because of the approach of John Reid."
Sinn Fein tonight also described the SDLP's decision to become the first nationalist party in Northern Ireland to urge support for the police as "misjudged".
But the source speculated the move might be an attempt to put "clear blue water" between the party and Sinn Fein ahead of a possible Assembly election later in the year.
Unionists have yet to declare where they stand on the reform proposals.
The Rev Ian Paisley's Democratic Unionists will consider its response tomorrow while the Ulster Unionists are expected to give their verdict when party leader Mr David Trimble returns from his holiday early next month.
Both parties are expected to take their seats on the Policing Board which will hold the new police service accountable and take key decisions on the reforms.
PA