Ian Paisley: We are nowhere near the risk of a border poll - but if one ever happened there should be a turnout quota and supermajority

​The North Antrim MP also said that, once the current parliamentary recess ends, he will revisit the progress of a bill he had introduced last year which seeks to ensure that in the event of any border poll, a simple “50%-plus-1” majority would not be enough to spell Irish unity.

All of this comes amid renewed talk in recent days about a referendum.

It has been buoyed by the recent election results which mean that Sinn Fein is now the dominant party on the Province’s councils (144 seats to the DUP’s 122), as well as being the biggest in Stormont (27 seats to 25) – meaning the only arena where a unionst party remains on top is the Commons (eight DUP seats to seven for Sinn Fein).

On Sunday, Sinn Fein president Mary Lou McDonald said: “This is something that Sinn Fein has raised with successive Prime Ministers: that needs to be set out very, very clearly.

"Thus far the British government has flatly refused to share with us what they believe would be the moment that a referendum might be triggered.

"On the back now of two very, very significant elections... I would urge them to do so”.

She added: “But let me be clear: even if the British government continues to dodge this issue, even if they maintain the position of saying ‘we don't have to set out the criteria’ that should not stop the rest of us doing what needs to be done.

“Because, let me say, there will be no prizes for those to buried their heads in the sand. Change is happening. It is absolutely critically important that it's managed in an orderly and inclusive and a respectful way.”

As to what the official picture is, the Good Friday Agreement says only this: that the Northern Ireland Secretary can call a poll “if at any time it appears likely to him that a majority of those voting would express a wish that Northern Ireland should cease to be part of the United Kingdom and form part of a united Ireland”.

Asked his own view on what should trigger a vote, Mr Paisley said: “I think it should be significantly higher than a mood, post-election.”

Even given those recent election results, he said pro-unity support is “nowhere near” the tipping point for a referendum.

"Nationalism is nowhere near, republicanism is nowhere near a significant enough bulk where they can seriously think any government would say ‘now is the time to hold such a border poll’,” he said. "So I think we have to keep that in perspective.”

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When it comes to the nuts-and-bolts of how such a vote would play out, it is “proper you negotiate the mechanisms of that”, said Mr Paisley.

“My view is very much shared by the late Seamus Mallon – that you just can’t have a simple majority for such a major constitutional change when you’ve got a divided society.

“All you’re simply doing is taking a divided society from one constitutional arrangement into another, where they remain a divided society.

“You want to make sure, first of all, that there’s a weighted turnout in the actual poll, and secondly that there’s a weighted majority, so that whatever change may come about it’d have widespread, cross-community and signifcant support.

"Otherwise we’re just asking for more of the same.

"It’s really up to the British government to start pondering these matters and to recognise a legitimate request and, given that all these things are up for negotiation, I certainly believe that’s on the agenda."

One of the key advantages of a turnout quota for unionists would be that they could effectively kill the referendum by just not showing up to vote.

Last November Mr Paisley had introduced the “Referendums (Supermajority) Bill” to Parliament, though it has not progressed very far.

It is described as “a bill to require a supermajority of votes in favour of a proposal for constitutional change” – though it contains no firm number of what it should be.

He said that when Parliament returns on June 5, it is “up to me to push that point” and he will seek to get the bill timetabled fo a return.

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