Politicians have been reacting to Secretary of State's Peter Mandelson's statement to the Commons on the fate of the Northern Ireland Assembly and its executive.

The fragile peace process in Northern Ireland has been threatened by the lack of progress on arms decommissioning and in particular the failure of the IRA to hand-over its weapons.

Speaking about the head of the international decommissioning body General John de Chastelain's report, Mr Mandelson said there had been no decommissioning of arms by any major paramilitary group.

He said during his statement: "If this continues, it is totally unacceptable, notably in the case of the IRA."

He said: "The de Chastelain commission needed "definite information" about when decommissioning would start.

He also said that without clarity over decommissioning, confidence in the peace process "will ebb quickly".

Speaking after Mr Mandelson's statement to the Commons, Northern Ireland First Minister and leader of the Ulster Unionist Party David Trimble said progress on decommissioning had been "minuscule" and said he was deeply disappointed.

Mr Trimble said he was "astonished" that so little had happened, accusing the paramilitaries of a "contemptuous response".

Tory Northern Ireland spokesman Andrew Mackay said it was "a very sad day" for Northern Ireland's people who "have been badly let down" by paramilitaries on both sides.

Mr Mackay pledged Tory help in passing the legislation needed as quickly as possible and called on Mr Mandelson to publish the de Chastelain report.

Meanwhile, the Sinn Fein President Gerry Adams said the Secretary of State's speech was a slap in the face to the Sinn Fein leadership who were trying to save the institutions.

He said: "I utterly reject the political thrust of Mr Mandelson's words.

"If he suspends the institutions he will be in breach of the Good Friday Agreement.

"By his statement tonight Peter Mandelson has given notice that he is prepared to cave into the demands of the unionists.

"This is no way to build confidence among nationalists and republicans.

"And it is a slap in the face to Sinn Fein leadership who are engaged at this time in trying to save the very same institutions."

Speaking on BBC Northern Ireland, Sinn Fein's Gerry Kelly said: "What we have is the British Secretary of State saying it will go into suspension."

"That is absolutely the wrong way to deal with, first of all the institutions working and moving forward and for politics working and, secondly out of that to deal with the decommissioning issue because if you cut off your nose to spite your face, if you pull down institutions how can up convince people with weapons that there is an alternative?"

"So it's putting an absolute disastrous position in front of us."

Appeal to Secretary of State

However, the Deputy First Minister Seamus Mallon appealed to the Secretary of State not to suspend the executive yet.

He said: "It would make obtaining decommissioning immeasurably more difficult, if not ultimately impossible."

The leader of the Democratic Unionist Party Ian Paisley accused the British Government of stalling on the decommissioning issue.

Speaking on Thursday night, the party's Nigel Dodds also said: If devolution is suspended then what we say in the DUP is, although we didn't get any comfort from the Secretary of State last night on this point, we say the other aspects of the Agreement, notably the release of terrorist prisoners and the intention to implement the Patten report should likewise be put on hold.

The announcement to MPs by the Northern Ireland Secretary followed the deadlock between Ulster Unionists and Sinn Fein following the IRA's failure to decommission weapons.

Downing Street stressed the step was being taken "as a contingency" and no date would be set for suspension once the necessary legislation had been rushed through the Commons in the next few days.

The suspension of the Northern Ireland Assembly would mean "direct rule" being re-introduced from Westminster.