There has been mixed reaction to the Northern Secretary's decision to suspend the North's political institutions. Nobody in the Ulster Unionist Party was prepared to comment officially but a UUP Assembly source said there were fears of a backlash from rank-and-file members who would be unhappy about another short-term suspension.
"The reality is that when Tony Blair is talking tough about international terrorism he is asking us to stay put in government with the representatives of republican terrorism."
UUP MP Mr Jeffrey Donaldson said the Northern Secretary had made a mistake given that there had been absolutely no progress on decommissioning over the past six weeks.
"All the [British] government is doing is buying more time for the IRA. It places unionists in a very difficult position regarding their participation in a power-sharing Executive with the representatives of an armed organisation which continues to hold on to its illegal weapons."
The SDLP's Finance Minister, Mr Mark Durkan, said Dr Reid clearly had had to choose from a number of uncomfortable options.
"I would not take too seriously any criticism of his decision from some quarters.
"In circumstances when the Executive agreed a draft programme of government this week and also a draft budget which are going to be presented in the Assembly next week, this device allows the institutions to continue to serve the public interest and the two governments to work to preserve the agreement.
"What is now needed is a concerted effort on the basis of the package that is the two governments' best judgment to deliver the full implementation of the agreement," he said.
The Sinn Fein president, Mr Gerry Adams, said Dr Reid's decision had made a "bad situation worse". Once again the British government had stepped outside the agreement to "satisfy insatiable unionist demands".
"Dr Reid's refusal to join with the Irish Government for a review of the agreement is indicative of a British government preoccupied with only one issue, that of weapons, and is an indication of its lack of concern for other crucial issues," Mr Adams added.
The DUP deputy leader, Mr Peter Robinson, described the suspension as a "tactical device to keep Sinn Fein/IRA in government despite their failure to give up a single gun or bullet".