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As reported yesterday, there are letters from individual constituency associations expressing concern about recent decisions by the DUP leader.

But DUP sources have told the News Letter about two other letters which were in circulation around the party yesterday – one for councillors and one for rank and file members.

Both of those letters unambiguously call on Mrs Foster to resign in similar language, suggesting they were written jointly.

The councillors’ letter says: “We are severely worried about the state of our party and country.”

Citing concern at London imposing abortion reform and the Irish Sea border, the signatories said they were “deeply concerned about the future of unionism, Ulster conservatism and the DUP..We believe that the protocol needs to be overthrown [and] abortion laws need to be repealed.”

The letter also demanded that “the behaviour of Sinn Féin” should be challenged and “we must return to the unionist and Christian values of our party”.

It added: “We call upon [sic] the immediate resignation of the leader and deputy leader of the party.”

It is not clear how many people have signed each letter but one DUP member said that councillors across several councils had done so.

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Letter circulating among DUP councillors tells Arlene Foster and Nigel Dodds to go “immediately”