The Nobel peace prize-winner and 64-year-old Northern Ireland MP John Hume is to stand down as leader of the SDLP.

Hume, who has been the party's leader and a member of the European Parliament since 1979, is credited as having begun the talks with Sinn Fein which led to the Good Friday Agreement.

The SDLP's deputy leader Seamus Mallon, who is also acting deputy first minister, is tipped as the man most likely to succeed Hume. South Down MP Eddie McGrady and Stormont's agriculture minister, Brid Rodgers, are also possible candidates.