Sinn Féin and the SDLP yesterday welcomed the placing of amendments to policing legislation before the House of Commons, and each party claimed credit for the move.
Mr Gerry Kelly, the Sinn Féin Assembly member for North Belfast, said the amendments, among them the move to allow former paramilitary prisoners to join District Policing Partnerships which will have an input into local police decisions, were the result of "three years of hard work and negotiation by Sinn Féin".
"The SDLP told us before Weston Park that amending legislation was not possible, yet it was delivered and more recently they told us again that new legislation was not possible. Yet again it has been delivered," he said.
Mr Alex Attwood, of the SDLP, called on Sinn Féin to join the Policing Board which it has refused to do since November 2001.
"The passing into law of the Weston Park commitments is a further vindication and another stride towards the full implementation of Patten. The new laws and the growing record of achievement of the Policing Board is proof that the SDLP made the policing jump at the right time," he said.
The exchanges between the two parties were made as MPs began discussing changes to the Police (Northern Ireland) Bill, which follow the talks on the peace process involving the two governments and the parties at Weston Park, Staffordshire, in August 2001.
Mr Martin McGuinness said his party had succeeded in "getting the British government to face up to important issues".
However, further progress needed to be made on matters such as the Special Branch, plastic bullets, and the transfer of policing and justice powers from the British government to the Stormont administration.
Sinn Féin was working hard to resolve policing and other issues, he said and looked forward to negotiations at Hillsborough Castle next month which the British Prime Minister, Mr Blair, and the Taoiseach, are expected to attend, along with the local parties.
Mr McGuinness said it "gave encouragement to many people" that Mr Blair was prepared to return for talks on the peace process at a time of "huge international crisis for the world and him as Prime Minister".
He said progress was being made towards a "representative, accountable police force free from political control". When that position was reached, there would be debate within the nationalist community and Sinn Féin. A special ard fheis could be held to discuss the matter, he said.
Mr McGuinness criticised the SDLP position on policing. The party might want to capitulate on "justice, equality and human rights" but the Sinn Féin leadership would not "give up" on these matters.
He reiterated his party's opposition to unionist demands for sanctions against his party if the Provisional IRA was deemed to have broken its ceasefire.
Mr Attwood countered saying: "What is going through the House of Commons at this moment in terms of the new laws is a vindication of the position of the SDLP. There have been major advances over the last 18 months. We had the changes to the first Police Bill, we had the changes negotiated at Weston Park. Since then we had demanding and detailed negotiations to ensure that what was committed to at Weston Park was put into the law that is going through the House of Commons."
He claimed SDLP successes at Weston Park included: increased powers of investigation for the Police Ombudsman; reductions in the ability to limit the Policing Board's reports and inquiries; ensuring community policing is a core function; restricting the powers of the Northern Secretary on board affairs; and guaranteeing that all policing information goes to board members.
The Chief Constable, Mr Hugh Orde, yesterday distanced himself from political decisions regarding the legislation.