Angry reactions to 'Stakeknife' claims

There have been various political reactions in the North to claims that the British Army received reports from a high-ranking IRA informer for 20 years.

The Ulster Unionists say such operations were key to defeating the paramilitaries, while the SDLP is calling for a public inquiry.

The Ulster Unionist leader, David Trimble, says nobody should be surprised by the revelations as everyone knew that the State had to try to penetrate paramilitary organisations.

He said it was a "key way in which the paramilitaries were ground down and brought close to defeat".

But the SDLP's Alex Attwood said if agents were recruited and then went on to become involved in commit murder, it was the gravest of situations and that both the State and paramilitaries had to be called to account.