LAST UPDATE | 5 Jul
THE DEMOCRATIC UNIONIST PARTY’S Ian Paisley Junior has lost his seat as MP for North Antrim to the TUV’s (Traditional Unionist Voice) Jim Allister in a shock result.
His defeat means it is the first time since 1970 that the MP for North Antrim will not be an Ian Paisley.
Paisley, the son of DUP founder Ian Paisley, has held the seat since 2010 when he took his father’s seat.
The TUV’s Allister, who set up the party in 2007 following his resignation from the DUP, had been backed by Nigel Farage’s far-right Reform party earlier this year when an electoral partnership was announced.
However, last month Farage personally endorsed Allister’s rival Paisley.
While in the DUP, TUV leader Allister represented the party in the European Parliament.
He resigned from the party in 2007 over its decision to enter into government with Sinn Féin.
Speaking after his election, Allister said the DUP tried to “hoodwink” unionists and that unionists “would not be taken for fools”.
Elsewhere, results are continuing to roll in quick and fast as its 18 seats are filled.
With two seats left to be filled, Sinn Féin is the largest party in the North with seven seats.
That means Sinn Féin has completed the hattrick in becoming the largest party at Westminster, Stormont, and local government.
It was a landslide for Sinn Féin in the notoriously tight race in Fermanagh-South Tyrone also.
Last time out, there was 57 votes in it in favour of Sinn Féin – this time round, Pat Cullen won by a margin of over 4,500.
The DUP currently has four, having lost two seats – with Paisley a possible third.
The SDLP has two seats with Colm Eastwood and Claire Hannah both retaining their seats.
The Alliance Party and the UUP both have one seat, while Alex Easton has been elected as an Independent.
In East Belfast, DUP leader Gavin Robinson has kept the seat, beating Alliance Party leader Naomi Long.
He won the seat with a majority of 2,628 votes – an increase of over 800 votes on 2019.
That’s one of the seats the DUP were gunning for, as defeat here would have led to a leadership headache for the party.
The Alliance Party has achieved a huge feat elsewhere however, taking the seat that belonged to the former leader of the DUP Jeffrey Donaldson in Lagan Valley.
Sorcha Eastwood secured the seat, defeating DUP candidate Jonathan Buckley.
She becomes the first non-unionist and the first female to win a seat in this constituency.
Moments after it became clear that Eastwood would win the seat, there was a touching moment.
As she received congratulations, she received a phone call from her husband Dale, who is battling a rare form of blood cancer.
In the middle of a media scrum, the new Lagan Valley MP was heard to say: “Yes, it’s true babe.”
Eastwood admitted to being emotional in the wake of her victory.
She said: “This means so much to me.
Not just me personally, the people of Lagan Valley from all different walks of life – people who are unionist, people who are nationalist, people who are like me and are neither of those things.
Meanwhile, in Mid Ulster, first time Westminster candidate and former Sinn Fein councillor Cathal Mallaghan, maintained the party’s hold on the constituency.
The party has held the seat since 1997.
Speaking after his election, Mallaghan said the people had rejected 14 years of “British Tory cuts”.
In East Derry, the DUP’s Gregory Campbell just about retained the seat he has held since 2001.
Campbell had a majority of close to 9,000 last time out in 2019 – Sinn Féin cut that to just 179.
He blamed a split unionist vote, alongside an increase in the Sinn Féin vote, for the close run contest.
Additional reporting by Diarmuid Pepper and Press Association
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