Sinn Féin becomes NI’s largest Westminster party

Sinn Féin has become Northern Ireland’s largest Westminster party for the first time after winning seven seats in the general election.

That is the same number as the 2019 election but the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) has lost seats on a disappointing night.

Ian Paisley has lost the North Antrim seat that has been in his family for more than 50 years.

Fellow veteran DUP MP Gregory Campbell may also be in danger in East Londonderry, a seat he has held since 2001.

BBC News NI understands a full recount will take place with only a few hundred votes separating him and Sinn Féin’s Kathleen McGurk.

Meanwhile the party lost its Lagan Valley seat, previously held by former leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson, to Alliance’s Sorcha Eastwood.

In total, 16 of Northern Ireland’s 18 seats have been declared so far, with North Antrim and East Londonderry yet to declare.

The Labour Party has won a landslide victory with Keir Starmer set to become the new prime minster.

The first seismic result of the night came in Lagan Valley, where Sorcha Eastwood became both the first woman and first non-unionist MP.

She defeated the DUP’s Jonathan Buckley, who was contesting the election instead of Sir Jeffrey after he was charged with historical sex offences.

Ms Eastwood said she was delighted, saying the party’s result was a “huge achievement”.

“I am a Lagan Valley girl born and bred,” she added.

Mr Buckley said “boundary changes” and “divided unionism” lost him the seat.

The DUP also lost in South Antrim to former health minister Robin Swann, meaning the Ulster Unionists will return an MP to the House of Commons for the first time since 2017.

In North Antrim, in a major upset the DUP’s Ian Paisley lost his North Antrim seat to Traditional Unionist Voice (TUV) leader Jim Allister.

The seat has been held by either Mr Paisley or his father, Ian Sr, for the last 54 years.

Elsewhere, here’s who have been elected in Northern Ireland:

• Sinn Féin’s Cathal Mallaghan was the first Northern Ireland MP elected, topping the poll in Mid Ulster
• DUP leader Gavin Robinson retained his seat in Belfast East despite the challenge of Alliance leader Naomi Long
• His DUP colleagues Carla Lockhart, Sammy Wilson and Jim Shannon retained their seats in Upper Bann, East Antrim and Strangford respectively
• Sinn Féin’s Órfhlaith Begley retained her seat in West Tyrone as did her party colleagues Chris Hazzard in South Down, John Finucane in Belfast North and Paul Maskey in Belfast West. Dáire Hughes also won for Sinn Féin in Newry And Armagh, replacing Mickey Brady who elected not to run
• Former nursing union boss Pat Cullen held Fermanagh and South Tyrone for Sinn Féin while
• The SDLP’s Claire Hanna also held onto her seat in Belfast South and Mid Down as did party leader Colum Eastwood in Foyle
• Independent unionist Alex Easton wins the North Down seat from Alliance’s deputy leader Stephen Farry

In its 40-year history, only two people had ever been MP for Lagan Valley – now we have the third.

Alliance Party assembly member Sorcha Eastwood is the first woman and the first non-unionist to hold the seat.

Her predecessor, former Democratic Unionist Party leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson, was MP for the area for 27 years.

Before him it was former Ulster Unionist Party leader James Molyneux.

Overturning the DUP’s majority is a significant win for Alliance, off-setting expected disappointment for the party elsewhere in North Down.

The first declarations arrived at about 03:40 BST despite expectations the first results would come at 02:00

It was believed most of Northern Ireland’s 18 MPs would be known by about 05:30.

In total, 136 candidates stood in Northern Ireland in the first general election since 2019.

It operates as first past the post, which means voters put an X in the box beside one candidate who they want to be elected to the House of Commons.

The number of registered voters in Northern Ireland was the largest it has ever been for a general election – 1,363,961.