Jim Wilson says there are ‘too many’ unionist parties

But the increase in voter turnout was not to the benefit of the Ulster Unionist Party.

This was the last straw.

But writing in the Northern Ireland tabloid the Sunday Life, Foster said: “I am listening not just to those who voted for the DUP but to those who cast their votes for other parties”. This triggered a snap election.

Former Northern Ireland first minister David Trimble, who was instrumental to the 1998 Good Friday peace agreement that ended three decades of sectarian bloodshed, said the British government should find a way to give the parties more time.

Long-simmering tensions boiled over in January when the Sinn Fein party – once the political arm of the Irish Republican Army (IRA) – brought down the province’s semi-autonomous government.

Disillusionment which has only crystalised since the electorate, who voted 55.8% to remain in the European Union, may now be taken out against their will.

“Catastrophic election for unionism; triumph for nationalism”.

An acrimonious campaign also added to the friction. And punish them they did.

The question remains exactly the same. Status quo ante restored: will Arlene Foster resign or step aside as First Minister pending the inquiry into the extraordinary fiasco of the Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) scheme?

Secretary of State James Brokenshire and Foreign Affairs Minister Charlie Flanagan yesterday released co-ordinated statements stressing the need for a power-sharing government to be established as soon as possible. Foster reportedly locked herself away in a room with the curtains drawn to conduct private meetings with party officials.

All three Sinn Fein candidates were returned as the party’s leader in Northern Ireland, Michelle O’Neill topped the poll with 10,258 first preference votes. “There will be no living with them (Sinn Fein) now”.

Gerry Adams said: “The notion of a perpetual unionist majority has been demolished”.

“It is a vote for Irish unity, a vote for us together as a people”.

With the latest results, the DUP has failed to secure 30 seats that would be required to trigger a petition of concern veto at Stormont, while the SDLP replaced the UUP as the third largest party in the assembly.

The Prime Minister spoke to Irish Taoiseach Enda Kenny this evening ahead of intense discussions that begin today to thrash out a new power-sharing deal.

Sir Gerald added: “It should be a matter for the United Kingdom government to determine the arrangements on legacy investigations, nobody else”. The North voted to remain in the bloc and its agriculture-based economy makes it especially vulnerable to higher trade tariffs which may follow if Britain leaves the EU’s Single Market.