The Ulster Unionist Party suggested the DUP and Sinn Fein were attempting to put spin and gloss on things at yesterday's ceremony.

He said to the Assembly: "What is abundantly clear Mr Speaker is that things are not resolved and we are in fact embarking on a St Andrews Mark 2.

"The problems we face do not lie in London and they do not lie in Dublin.

"The unresolved problems lie here Mr Speaker in this chamber."

SDLP leader Mark Durkan said there had been phoney uncertainty around the Assembly's future – during crisis talks and Sinn fein threats this week.

"That was a disgraceful contribution as a result of political showboating coming particularly on the part of Sinn Fein," he said.

He added that the two leading parties should not be bringing matters which could be dealt with in Belfast to London.

"Bring these issues to this House. You will find in other parties people who are willing to share your ambitions and help to deliver to make sure that this is a better place with a bigger sense of itself, of its own community, of each other and a much more responsible sense of our role in the world."

Alliance leader David Ford said the glowing words of the DUP and Sinn Fein did not reflect reality.

"It really is time that those who have been charged with government in this place actually took up their duties and stopped acting like squabbling children.

"A year on from the time they told us that all was resolved is long past."