The deputy leader of the DUP, Mr Peter Robinson, has said the results of a local government by-election in Lisburn, Co Antrim, announced yesterday, represented a "final warning" to the Ulster Unionist leader, Mr David Trimble.
Mr Robinson said: "The DUP vote was more than 50 per cent of the poll in an area where the DUP had only secured one seat in the previous election, compared with three Ulster Unionist seats.
"This result will rock Glengall Street to its foundations and provides confirmation that the DUP speaks for the unionist people of Northern Ireland."
Mr James Tinsley, of the DUP, replaces Mr David Greene, of the Ulster Unionist Party, who has retired, as a councillor on Lisburn Borough Council. Mr Tinsley received 1,574 votes.
He was elected in the Killultagh ward. In a turnout of just 22 per cent, he polled 1,574 of the valid vote of 3,052 and was elected on the first count.
Other first preferences were: Norma Irene Coulter (Ulster Democratic Party), 78; Samuel Winston Johnston (Ulster Unionist Party), 886; and Trevor John Lunn (Alliance Party), 514.
Four DUP councillors will now sit on Lisburn Borough Council. The UUP remains the largest party with 12 councillors.