Two Ulster Unionist MPs have demanded the resignation of the Northern Secretary, Dr Mo Mowlam. They said her decision that the Provisional IRA ceasefire had not been broken showed a lack of moral courage.
Mr Ken Maginnis said the Northern Secretary had treated ordinary people, both unionist and nationalist, with contempt. "She basically said all the facts pointed to the IRA having broken its ceasefire but she had decided it wasn't broken and nobody was to ask her any more questions about it. That's unbelievably arrogant.
"She should have told the IRA that she understood a ceasefire to be the end of military operations against working-class Catholics as well as soldiers and policemen. She should have demanded a reply and told them that they had to stick to that position."
Calling for Dr Mowlam's resignation, Mr Maginnis said: "The time has come for her to go. She is not behaving in a competent manner. She has shown for some time a predisposition to side with Sinn Fein. She is clearly more comfortable with that party than with ordinary unionists."
The dissident UUP MP, Mr Jeffrey Donaldson, also demanded that the Northern Secretary resign. "The decision made by Mo Mowlam is a joke. It's a farce, it's incredible. Mo Mowlam has lost all credibility with the people of Northern Ireland when she says the IRA ceasefire is intact when everyone knows it has been breached and the IRA has been gun-running.
"Violence is still in the IRA's nature. It is still part of what the republican movement is about. These are the people we are being asked to embrace in government. These are the people whose prisoners are being released on to our streets."
The Ulster Unionist deputy leader, Mr John Taylor, described Dr Mowlam's decision as "an insult to the intelligence of ordinary people" in the North. "Dr Mowlam has confirmed that the IRA has been involved in murder and gun-running. Nonetheless, she still believes the IRA is on ceasefire. This is farcical and a fudge."
The Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr Andrews, had "let the cat out of the bag" when he said both governments agreed the ceasefire had not been broken, Mr Taylor said. The UUP deputy leader said he, and the majority of people in the North, believed "those who kill and acquire illegal armaments are not on ceasefire, nor are they suitable people to be in government or to be given authority over any police service".
The UUP MP, Mr Willie Thompson, said Dr Mowlam had decided there was a hierarchy of life in the North with the lives of British soldiers and RUC officers being more valuable than those of Catholic civilians.
He hoped Dr Mowlam would be moved in Mr Blair's next cabinet reshuffle. "The sooner she is shuffled out of Northern Ireland the better. Any other senior member of government would do a better job than her. She is only making the situation worse. Her actions are despicable to democracy."
A UUP Assembly member, Mr Peter Weir, said Dr Mowlam's statement "beggared belief" and the British government would now be "morally culpable for future murders and mutilations". Mr Weir said: "Even when the Chief Constable declares the IRA were involved in murder, Mo Mowlam lets them off without even a slap on the wrist.
"She has effectively shown a disregard for not only previous incidents but an implied acceptance of further breaches of the ceasefire." The IRA would ignore the Northern Secretary's "yellow card", knowing she had "no intention of producing the red one".
The UK Unionist leader, Mr Robert McCartney, described Dr Mowlam's decision as yet another step "in the moral degeneration of Tony Blair's government". He quoted from a speech Mr Blair made in Belfast in an attempt to convince people to vote for the Belfast Agreement.
Mr Blair had said "as the agreement expressly states, the ceasefires are indeed complete and unequivocal - an end to bombings, killings and beatings, claimed or unclaimed; an end to targeting and procurement of weapons . . ."
Mr McCartney said: "Despite Tony Blair's principles and the facts revealed by the Chief Constable, Mo Mowlam has managed to conclude that the IRA ceasefire has been breached but has not broken down and these breaches will attract no more harsh a punishment than a stern talking-to."