SDLP leader Mark Durkan has said the British government's "flawed" approach has "corrupted" the Good Friday agreement.

The Northern Irish politician made the comments in the run up to crunch talks between the parties and British and Irish governments aimed at restoring the devolved institutions.

The executive and assembly have been suspended since October 2002 following allegations that the IRA was spying at Stormont.

And Durkan told ePolitix.com that the British government had pandered to the more extreme parties at the expense of the inclusive approach that forged the original agreement.

"We found ourselves in a situation where political posturing and a tug of war threatened the institutions and stalled the agreement," he said.

"The way the government managed that process was not the way we arrived at the agreement.

"It was a more selective and exclusive set of negotiations and political positioning where the government focused on the problem parties; that is Sinn Fein on the one hand because of their relevance to the decommissioning issue and the UUP on the other because of their relevance to the stability of the institutions.

"That flawed approach has done damage to the agreement. It hasn't just interrupted the process it has corrupted it."

Responding to the Comments, Number 10 paid tribute to the SDLP's "very constructive role" in the peace process.

But the prime minister's official spokesman denied that moderates are being squeezed out of the picture.

"It is important to recognise the very clear criteria that the prime minister set down in his speech in Belfast two years ago this October," he said.

"He clearly identified that any deal would have to result in the complete end to all forms of paramilitarism and to a genuine and conclusive government."

Choreography

Durkan's comments follow choreographed moves including the Clintons' visit to the province and apparently conciliatory statements by Sinn Fein designed to increase confidence.

The Foyle MLA urged the IRA to move into a "disarmament" phase and back words with action.

"The logic of what Sinn Fein leaders are saying is that there is no republican reason for the IRA to exist, so I say why keep giving unionists an excuse?" he said.

"Language in itself is not enough. What we need is decisive movement and the IRA is in a position, and not before time, to make the moves they need for completion. I want them to move from the ceasefire to a disarmament situation."

Durkan added that there needed to be "positive and decisive movement on the part of unionist leaders as well".

The man who replaced John Hume as leader said that although experience had taught him not to expect too much from the forthcoming negotiations, he was being positive.

"We want things to move forward cohesively so there's no more of this incrementalism, fudge and side dealing," Durkan told this website.

"We need to go back to working with the one deal that people endorsed which was the Good Friday agreement itself."