SDLP leader Claire Hanna said agreement on a budget and reform of Stormont should happen “in tandem”, but neither should be conditional on the other.
She said the budget “should never be a cat’s paw in a negotiation”.
Hanna said there had already been harm to public services from using the budget as a “negotiating ploy”.
She described claims that the lack of an agreed budget was not affecting services as “a nonsense”.
SDLP opposition leader Matthew O’Toole described the suggestion that Stormont could operate on 95% of available funding as “a ridiculous proposition”.
“The answer to that is not to impose a 5% cut on yourself,” he said.
Ahead of the meetings, Sinn Féin assembly member (MLA) Deirdre Hargey said there needs to be a “different mood and tone” from the British government in relation to devolution.
Speaking to BBC Radio Ulster’s Good Morning Ulster programme, she said: “We need to see an adequate package which meets the needs here so that we can get on with the job of delivering public services and doing the transformation the executive have committed to.”
Hargey said the budget would need to be calculated on the basis of need.
“If the secretary of state is serious and genuine in terms of having stability within our institutions to ensure that we have a fiscal way forward then they need to be funding us appropriately.”
