The Northern Ireland Secretary Peter Hain has been accused of trying to hand himself powers which could undermine the Belfast Agreement.
SDLP leader Mark Durkan claimed at the Labour Party conference today that there were plans for new legislation which would enable Mr Hain to change the way institutions under the Belfast Agreement operated.
Mr Durkan said that a realistic appraisal of Taoiseach Bertie Ahern and Prime Minister Tony Blair's roadmap for reviving devolution meant the North's parties would be marking in the autumn the fourth anniversary of the suspension of power sharing at Stormont.
"The Good Friday Agreement is not the property of the British Government to chop and change at their own will or the whim of those opposed to it," the Foyle MP said. "The DUP have rights under the Agreement. They do not have rights over it.
"The Agreement and their mandate gives them some vetoes in the institutions. They should not have a veto on the institutions. "I would love to be able to say that I see more positive potential in the latest proposals from the two governments than I currently do.
"The SDLP encourages them to be firmer and go further . "We have to hope that what the Taoiseach and Prime Minister announce on Thursday will not just be the source of shadowy Assembly that would be right up the DUP's street because that could only lead to a dead end."
There have been three failed bids since then to revive the Assembly - the most recent in December 2004 faltered over demands by the Rev Ian Paisley's Democratic Unionist Party for visual evidence of IRA weapons decommissioning. Mr Blair and Mr Ahern will travel to Armagh on Thursday to outline their plan for restoring devolution.
The two governments are expected to recall the Assembly in May to give it six weeks to form an executive. However if that proves impossible, new legislation is expected to park the Assembly through the North's difficult summer marching season and recall the Stormont in September with new rules.
PA