Anti-agreement unionists have reacted angrily to confirmation from the Northern Secretary, Mr Peter Mandelson, that the majority of the Patten policing reforms are being adopted by the British government.
The leader of the DUP, the Rev Ian Paisley, described redundancy payments to officers as "bribe money", and said concessions from the British government were consistently "treated with contempt by IRA/Sinn Fein.
"As the axe of the Westminster government has fallen on the Royal Ulster Constabulary and its Reserve, Sinn Fein/IRA has cried out that it is not enough," said Dr Paisley, in an address to the European Parliament in Strasbourg.
The DUP Minister of Social Development in the Northern Ireland executive, Mr Nigel Dodds, said Mr Mandelson had effectively pandered to the most sinister elements of society and failed to listen to the voice of the "decent majority" on the policing issue.
The dissident Ulster Unionist MP, Mr Jeffrey Donaldson, warned that Ulster Unionist Council delegates would have listened to yesterday's proceedings with sadness, and many would conclude the UUP should withdraw from the executive.
Mr Cedric Wilson, the leader of the anti-agreement Northern Ireland Unionist Party, said the unionist population felt "cheated, deceived and betrayed" by the announcement, which had "effectively destroyed" the RUC.
Mr Peter Weir, who lost the UUP whip for voting against his party, called on the UUP ministers in the executive to consider resigning.
The Union First Group said the announcement amounted to the "most offensive result" of the Belfast Agreement. Mr Peter King, spokesman for the group, called on the UUP leadership to consider carefully its future approach to the peace process.
