Tony Blair has continued with his latest bid to reach agreement between Northern Ireland's political parties.

The prime minister met with leading figures from the province in Downing Street on Wednesday afternoon.

Blair held bilateral hold talks with the UUP, the SDLP, Sinn Fein and the Alliance Party to see if there is any common ground on forming the assembly to run Northern Ireland.

He was joined by Irish premier Bertie Ahern who is also keen to keep momentum going following last month's election results which saw the DUP become the largest party.

The meetings were described by officials as a chance to assess where the parties stand and Number 10 said the government would take the role of "facilitator".

Ministers hope they can find a middle way where the review can be seen as a partial renegotiation - which the DUP wants - but without upsetting the republican groups.

UUP leader David Trimble told reporters the solution to the current impasse could only come from republicans.

"The real underlying problem that has not been resolved is the failure of republicans to deliver effective acts of decommissioning. Until that happened there was no prospect of real progress," he said.

Sinn Fein said the DUP could not be allowed to hold up the peace process.

He also issued a jibe at Rev Ian Paisley's party, saying they should be given a "short" time to make progress because they had not been "in contact with the real world'' for a long time.

Ahead of the meetings, shadow Northern Ireland secretary David Lidington warned it was vital the government addressed the lack of unionist confidence in the peace process.

"The prime minister needs to ask why a unionist majority for the agreement five and a half years ago has been turned into a unionist majority against the agreement today," he said.

Lidington argued a deal would only be possible if there was a clear process of arms decommissioning with a timetable for completion and an end to all paramilitary activity.

"Both the British and Irish governments should apply the maximum pressure to republicans to deliver on that commitment.

"Any further changes to security or criminal justice policy should be conditional on 'acts of completion' by the paramilitaries."

DUP leaders met Tony Blair on Tuesday for the first meeting which Number 10 saw as a chance to find out what the party's stance is likely to be on specific issues.

"We all know what the DUP position is in broad outline," said the official spokesman.

"They've said in public they want to be positive. We want to explore what that means in more detail.

"We should give it time. We will talk to the other parties and get their assessment along with the Taioseach and then we will be in a better position to assess where we are going."The DUP leader, Rev Ian Paisley, revealed he had put a straightforward case to the prime minister.

"We expressed to him our desire to find a way whereby we can have democracy completely and totally restored to our community," he told reporters.

"We welcomed the fact that he had made it clear that we would have the opportunity to raise all the matters that we wanted to raise."

He also warned the party would not negotiate with Sinn Fein.

The party set out its position ahead of the review of the Good Friday agreement which is set to begin in the New Year.