Unionist opinion on the Northern Secretary's decision yesterday ranged from sadness to fury.
The Ulster Unionist Party leader, Mr David Trimble, played down the importance of the September 15th talks date. "The assumption that there will be talks on substantive matters in September is a rash assumption because we are still engaged in the opening plenary agenda, item two, namely decommissioning. When the talks open again, the subject matter will be decommissioning and there cannot be any move off that issue without there being an agreement by us."
He played down the idea that yesterday was a historic day, adding: "The republican movement has not changed its character; it will revert to violence, and those people who look on today in the term you suggest will end up looking very foolish."
The West Tyrone Ulster Unionist MP, Mr William Thompson, said: "The unthinkable has happened. Any unionist that would take a seat at the negotiating table would be betraying the memory of those brave and good men and women who, over the years, paid the supreme sacrifice in their fight against terrorism."
The DUP leader, the Rev Ian Paisley, said Ulster was facing its worst crisis since 1912. He accused Dr Mo Mowlam of working in partnership with Dublin to "destroy" Ulster, pointing out that she had promised that the British government would approach the talks as "facilitators for mutual options".
"The British government will not be at the talks table to see that the status quo, namely our constitutional position within the United Kingdom, is either maintained or retained. So Mo Mowlam is working as a partner with Dublin to, and for, Ulster's destruction. Any unionist who does not see that is blind and sick unto death."
The Ulster Unionist MP, Mr Jeffrey Donaldson, said the decision was a "very bitter pill" for Northern Ireland. "I don't believe for a moment that the IRA are committed to exclusively peaceful means."
The Progressive Unionist Party leader, Mr David Ervine, said it was possible that if Sinn Fein signed the Mitchell principles, he would be talking to them at the negotiating table.
However, he added: "We have been flagging up difficulties that undoubtedly exist within the unionist community, only to find that when the Secretary of State gets an opportunity to clarify the position and perhaps bolster the attitude within unionism, she does, indeed, the opposite."
The Ulster Democratic Party spokesman, Mr David Adams, said: "We all knew that, at this stage of the game, that Sinn Fein would be invited into the negotiations so it is hardly a surprise."
The Alliance leader, Lord Alderdice, said: "Given the ceasefire, the government could act in no other way than to issue invitations to talks to everyone."