Great Britain’s Olympic team could be forced to ditch the name ‘Team GB’ in favour of ‘Team UK’ if the Democratic Unionist Party gets its way following the general election.

The DUP, which now holds the balance of power in parliament in the wake of Thursday’s shock poll, called for the rebrand in its manifesto in “recognition of Northern Ireland”.

The party unsuccessfully lobbied for the name change in the build-up to the 2012 Olympics, arguing the existing monicker did not reflect the contribution of parts of the UK which lay outside Great Britain.

That is despite Team GB being an abbreviation of the full team name, ‘Team Great Britain and Northern Ireland’.

Under the heading ‘Recognition of Northern Ireland’, the DUP manifesto called for: “Recognition of Northern Ireland sporting bodies, the Olympic team should be referred to as Team UK and the freedom for athletes to choose their national team.”