The DUP has said it will not set out to wreck the assembly, while at the same time insisting, in apparent contradiction, that it will not accept Sinn Féin members holding ministerial positions or prisoners being released without some prior paramilitary decommissioning.
The DUP leader, the Rev Ian Paisley, accused Queen Elizabeth of being the "parrot" of Mr Tony Blair because she issued a statement welcoming the referendum outcome.
"She is very foolish to do what she is doing. I don't think the people of Northern Ireland will take kindly to it," Dr Paisley said at a DUP press conference yesterday. "To use the monarchy in that way is of course part of the Labour Party's policy to discredit the monarchy, because they finally want to get rid of the monarchy," he added.
A spokeswoman for Queen Elizabeth said she would not be responding to Dr Paisley's criticism.
Mr Ken Maginnis, of the Ulster Unionist Party, claimed Dr Paisley's remarks proved he had "lost it", while Mr Steve McBride of Alliance said he had "hit a new low" with his "appalling attack".
The DUP deputy leader, Mr Peter Robinson, said his party would not set out to wreck the assembly. But at the same time he also made demands that appear contrary to the terms of the Belfast Agreement, and which could render the assembly unworkable.
"An imposed assembly we would be entitled to destroy, but an agreement endorsed by the electorate - even though not with the politically efficacious majority that it needed from the unionist community - no democrat is entitled to overthrow," he added.
"While the DUP will always work constructively, peacefully, constitutionally and democratically within the assembly we will not use our votes to provide consensus for unreconstructed terrorists to be placed in governments, nor will we endorse the release of prisoners prior to the dismantling of the paramilitary war machines and the surrender of illegal weaponry," Mr Robinson said.
"Equally, we will not collude with others to set up the embryo of a united Ireland," he added.
He denied that such a stance in effect meant the DUP was trying to make the assembly unworkable, as the demands on prisoners and Sinn Fein ministers in particular appear to be contrary to the terms of the Belfast Agreement.
"If holding this position is determined to be wrecking the assembly and bringing down the agreement then we would be in interesting company. For these are the promises that David Trimble made to the electorate during the referendum and they are the promises Tony Blair sought to have the people of Northern Ireland believe he was making."
Dr Paisley added: "We are not wreckers, we are savers. Our No vote has put the bit and curb upon the government's rash run down the hill."
He claimed Mr Blair had given a pledge that he would introduce legislation to ensure Sinn Féin members could not take their seats on the assembly ministerial executive without some prior IRA decommissioning.
When it was put to Dr Paisley that Mr Blair was not so specific, he said that was nonetheless the impression the British Prime Minister had tried to convey.
The DUP leader predicted that the Ulster Unionist Party would have a number of people among its candidates for the assembly who were also anti-agreement, and that some UUP politicians might contest the assembly as independents or on a United Unionist anti-agreement ticket.
"I am looking forward to this battle. It is one of the best battles we have ever had. It is one of the most interesting elections we have ever entered into, one where the people of Northern Ireland will have a real say."
Dr Paisley said the DUP would monitor all radio and television broadcasts to ensure they were fair in their coverage.
"We look forward to those 275,000 No voters increasing to over 300,000 as the people now begin to learn the facts," he added. "There will be a lot of people converted in the coming days."
Mr Robinson said the 275,000 who voted against the agreement "will not go away, you know". He said despite some claims to the contrary it was obvious that the 29 per cent No vote represented a majority of unionists opposing the agreement.
"Our detailed reports show that the majority of unionists voted against the deal," he said.
Dr Paisley urged voters to first support the DUP and then give transfers to other anti-agreement unionists, including candidates within the UUP who were viewed as No campaigners.
Dr Paisley accused the media of bias against the No campaign. "It was almost a crime, according to the press, to be a No voter. I thought we were living in a democracy. But certainly this campaign reeked of the same stink that came from Germany when they ran their campaigns, when you had the rise of fascism, when you were not allowed to say No, that you must say Yes. And that anybody who said No was a warmonger, a criminal, a dinosaur or worse," he said.
