It was a huge night for Northern Ireland’s two leading parties with the DUP and Sinn Fein making it a clean sweep in this year’s General Election.
The Ulster Unionists and SDLP were wiped out across the board with independent candidate Lady Sylvia Hermon retaining her seat in North Down.
It was a triumphant return for Sinn Fein’s Mickey Brady in Newry and Armagh as he increased his vote share by almost seven per cent to take in a huge 25,666 votes.
There were also gains for William Irwin who took in 13,177 votes, while SDLP’s Justin McNulty tallied 9,055 – a loss of 7.2 per cent on 2015’s result.
Elsewhere, it was difficult night for Ulster Unionist Sam Nicholson who saw his party’s vote share drop by a quarter, down to 4,425.
Alliance’s Jackie Coade took in 1,256 votes, which is a slight increase on two years ago.
25,666 votes for The People’s Champion @MickeyBradySF in #NewryArmagh – a giant result for a giant of a man. This is an unstoppable momentum pic.twitter.com/wWa3Q4ekyo
— NewryArmagh SinnFéin (@newryarmaghsf) June 9, 2017
David Simpson was an overwhelming victor in Upper Bann, also retaining his seat ahead of Sinn Fein and the UUP.
Mr Simpson, the sitting Wesminster MP, increased his vote share by more than 10 per cent, collecting 22,317 of the votes.
Sinn Fein’s John O’Dowd followed that with 14,325 – an increase of 3.4 per cent.
Doug Beattie’s UUP took a hit, losing 12.5 per cent of their vote share from 2015, registering 7,900 votes while SDLP’s Declan McAlinden took in 4,397.
Alliance’s Tara Doyle returned 2,319 votes.
DUP’s David Simpson elected to Upper Bann #bbcelection #ge2017 pic.twitter.com/ySdWPjkyJL
— Chrissie McGlinchey (@chrissie_mc84) June 9, 2017
The confirmed results across Northern Ireland saw the DUP win 10 seats, Sinn Féin win seven and independent candidate Lady Sylvia Hermon retain her seat in North Down.
With the Conservatives set to miss out on a majority, it looks likely Northern Ireland’s MPs could have a big say in the next Westminster government.
