Democratic Unionist Party MP Ian Paisley Jr has dramatically lost his seat in North Antrim in the UK Parliamentary elections. It brings to a sudden end 54 years of DUP rule in the constituency, with Ian Paisley and his father before him having held the Westminster seat since 1970.
After initially declining to speak to reporters, a dejected Mr Paisley last night addressed supporters in the wake of his shock defeat.
“Being a member of Parliament is a huge privilege. It’s been a huge privilege for me over fourteen years being a member of Parliament, and a previous 13 years in the Northern Ireland Assembly to serve my constituency. And I greatly appreciate the support they have given me.” he said.
In what has been received as the biggest shock of the night, Mr Paisley lost his seat to Traditional Unionist Voice (TUV) leader Jim Allister, who said that North Antrim had experienced a “political earthquake of seismic proportions” following his historic victory.
Allister had received the backing of the Reform Party, and in March, the TUV politician and barrister announced he was formally partnering with Reform UK in the election. He made the announcement as Reform UK’s Richard Tice attended the TUV’s annual conference held in County Antrim, with the two leaders signing a “memorandum of understanding” at the event.
Allister made headlines during his campaign, telling party members that the DUP had “no mandate” to make a return to Stormont, and claiming that the UK was “being dismantled” as a result of post-Brexit trade rules for Northern Ireland.
The former MLA declared that the constituency had taken a different course.
“Today we mark an occasion when after 54 years of DUP and Ian Paisley dynasty, North Antrim has taken an alternative course,” Mr Allister said.
“That is an alternative course which signals a number of things; amongst those is a very clear indication that the unionist people of North Antrim will not be taken for granted, and certainly will not be taken for fools.
“Because the DUP just a few weeks ago sought to hoodwink every unionist in this province when they pretended that the Donaldson Deal had got rid of the Irish Sea Border and restored our place in the United Kingdom.
“Those were brazen falsehoods and the people of North Antrim called them out as such in this campaign.
“Therein is the reason why I am now the Member of Parliament for North Antrim.”
The result is a sharp contrast from the outcome in 2010, when Mr Paisley secured the seat, seeing off Mr Allister’s challenge by a margin of more than 12,000 votes. This time around, Paisley took 11,192 votes, however was pipped to the post by Allister, who received 11,642, topping the poll, separating them by 450 votes.
It represents a 23.6 per cent decline in Mr Paisley\s vote, while Mr Allister increased his share of the North Antrim vote by 28.3 per cent. In the same constituency, Sinn Fein received 7,714 votes, up 7.4 per cent, Alliance 4,448 votes (-3.4 per cent), Ulster Unionists took 3,901 votes (-7.4 per cent), SDLP 1,661 votes (-1.9 per cent), and Aontú 451 votes (+1.1 per cent).
Elsewhere, in Sir Jeffrey Donaldson’s constituency of Lagan Valley, his seat was taken by the Alliance’s Sorcha Eastwood. What had been a key seat for the DUP, who had opted in MLA Jonathan Buckley to take the place of Donaldson, was lost by 2,959 votes, with Eastwood sailing to victory with 28,618 votes to Buckley’s 15,619. She becomes both the first woman and first non-unionist MP to take the seat in Lagan Valley
Former Health Minister Robin Swann, meanwhile, won a parliamentary seat in South Antrim for the UUP, at the expense of the DUP’s Paul Girvan.
Sinn Fein made sweeping gains to become Northern Ireland’s largest party at Westminster – while it is also the largest across councils and in the assembly. The party, which has a policy of not taking its seats in the House of Commons, now holds seven seats, the same number as in 2019.
There was a 4.2% increase in vote share compared to the 2019 general election.
A jubilant Mary Lou McDonald said today that it was time to “prepare for a new future together on this island”.
“From day one, we will be knocking on the door of the British government to demand that they stop their disgraceful underfunding of our public services and of the executive here.”