Ian Paisley spoke to Mr Blair by telephone

Mr Paisley, who will be meeting Tony Blair in the next few weeks, told the PM he must "move speedily on delivering confidence building measures".

"The unionist community feels ignored and isolated and has suffered greatly as a result of the one-sided approach by the government," he said.

The phone conversation followed loyalist violence and protests.

"The prime minister is aware of the importance of building confidence within the community in the aftermath of the concessions delivered to republicans," said Mr Paisley.

"During the last number of weeks a litany of concessions have been delivered to the IRA in return for words and nothing else.

"There can be no more fudging of the difficult issues that we currently face and I reminded the prime minister that unionists were no longer prepared to tolerate second class status."

On Monday, the Northern Ireland secretary denied the government was ignoring Protestants after facing a loyalist protest in County Antrim.

Mr Hain said the DUP and UUP had made proposals which he was taking forward.

Peter Hain was challenged on a number of issues

About a dozen loyalist women protesters in Lisburn held banners declaring "British Citizens Demand British Rights" during a visit by Mr Hain to meet local political representatives.

Several days of rioting erupted in Belfast after the Orange Order was prevented from marching down a nationalist section of the Springfield Road.

Police were attacked with petrol bombs, blast bombs and other missiles during the violence. Dozens of vehicles were also hijacked and set on fire.

More than 60 people were arrested by police in connection with the disturbances.