​DUP leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson yesterday urged Prime Minister Rishi Sunak to give unionists a reality check on his deal with the EU to solve problems with the NI Protocol

But Sir Jeffrey suggested he had been “overselling” what had been achieved.

Some prominent DUP figures, including Lord Dodds and MPs Sammy Wilson and Ian Paisley, have already suggested that the deal potentially does not go far enough to address concerns on trade and sovereignty.

Subsequently, the government committed to amend the 1998 Northern Ireland Act to provide further reassurance about the Province’s constitutional status within the UK.

Sir Jeffrey Donaldson said his party needs to see the detail of those proposed amendments.

“I think we do need that clarity from the government,” he said.

“Less of the oversell and more of the reality. I suspect the truth lies somewhere in the middle of all of this and that’s what we need to get at.

“We will seek to do that ourselves with our own assessment. But I think we need to hear from the government, particularly from the prime minister, on the reality of what all of this means.”

Meanwhile, the Northern Ireland Office (NIO) has moved to assure unionists it will not consider joint authority allowing Dublin and London to govern NI together if power-sharing is not restored at Stormont.

The NIO also said it was not considering any changes to the Belfast/Good Friday Agreement.

The assurance came after Secretary of State Chris Heaton-Harris said the government could consider changes to NI's governance if some in the unionist community do not accept the Windsor Framework.

Sinn Fein vice-president Michelle O’Neill yesterday said a UK/Irish arrangement for governing NI could be the only alternative if the devolution impasse continued.