THE north's parties "cannot be sat in talks until Christmas" Secretary of State Theresa Villiers warned.
Ms Villiers, who is at the Conservative party conference in Manchester, said the parties must resolve the impasse at Stormont within the next few weeks.
She told the BBC that in the "history of negotiations deadlines are often crashed through".
However, she added "we just don't have that time".
Her comments were echoed by British Prime Minister David Cameron, who said on Friday political talks to resolve the impasse over welfare reform and concerns about paramilitarism must be completed by the end of the month.
Mr Cameron said "under the rules of the institutions it gets increasingly difficult to have this process stalled and stuck".
The north's devolved institutions have been under severe strain for months as the parties struggle to reach agreement on welfare reform. The crisis deepened further last month when Chief Constable George Hamilton said individual members of the IRA were involved in the murder of ex-IRA man Kevin McGuigan.
The revelation prompted the Ulster Unionists to withdraw from the executive. All but one DUP minister resigned.
Ms Villiers said that the unionist resignations had added to the "stress" of the situation.
She also warned that the impasse over welfare reform "cannot run indefinitely".
Sinn Féin assembly member Conor Murphy later said the British and Irish governments need to live up to their responsibilities during the talks.
"The British government need to accept they have created the current political difficulties with their austerity cuts agenda," he said.
"They cannot evade that responsibility and present themselves as some sort of honest broker between the parties. They are clearly a player in this process.
"The Irish government too has a role to play as co-guarantors of the Good Friday Agreement."
