Career
The PUP soon reformed as the Democratic Unionist Party (Democratic Unionist Party), and Poots was elected to Lisburn Borough Council at the 1973 local elections. Contemporary reports claim that he started a fist-fight at the Assembly in December, after throwing a punch at Basil McIvor and he was suspended in 1974 for one day after calling Brian Faulkner a "lying tramp". Poots held his North Down seat on the Northern Ireland Constitutional Convention in 1975, but he lost it at the 1982 Assembly election.
In 1976, shots were fired at his car while driving through the predominantly Irish nationalist Markets area of Belfast.
He held his Lisburn council seat until 1997, serving as Deputy Mayor in 1991/2.
