DUP Loses 2 Seats in Northern Ireland

Former MP Ian Paisley (L) looks on as Jim Allister of the TUV gives a speech after being elected to parliament at Meadowbank Sports Arena in Magherafelt, Northern Ireland on July 5, 2024. (Niall Carson/PA Wire)

The Democratic Unionist Party has lost two out of its five seats, one of which had been held since 1997 by its former leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson who is awaiting trial for historical sex charges.

Gavin Robinson, who took over as DUP leader after Sir Jeffrey was arrested and charged earlier this year, said the loss of Lagan Valley, North Antrim and South Antrim was, “not what we wanted.”

North Antrim had been held by Ian Paisley, 57, and his father, Ian Paisley senior, for 54 years but it fell to Jim Allister, leader of Traditional Unionist Voice (TUV), a party which was closely aligned with Reform UK.

The TUV is adamantly opposed to the so-called Irish Sea border introduced as part of the Brexit deal and condemned the DUP’s stance as too weak.

The DUP’s candidate in Lagan Valley, Jonathan Buckley, lost to Sorcha Eastwood of the Alliance Party.

In South Antrim, the DUP’s Paul Girvan lost to Robin Swann of the rival Ulster Unionist Party (UUP), which was the dominant party in the Protestant community for many years.

Reform UK deputy leader Ben Habib (L) and TUV leader Jim Allister (R) shake hands at the TUV manifesto launch at Dunsilly Hotel in Antrim, Northern Ireland on June 21, 2024. (David Young/PA Wire)

As recently as 2017 the DUP had 10 seats and was the biggest party in Northern Ireland but this week’s results mean Sinn Fein holds the most seats in the province, with seven.

‘Significant Job of Work Ahead’

Mr. Robinson said: “We must be realistic about the significant job of work ahead to get unionism into a stronger and more strategic position.”

“While unionism went into this election with eight seats and comes out with eight seats, we can never again see a situation where pro-union voters are so divided that seats are lost to those who will not promote the union,” he added.

The DUP—the Ulster Unionist Party who retained their only seat—and the TUV all support Northern Ireland remaining in the United Kingdom, as do the non-sectarian Alliance Party, while Sinn Fein and the SDLP, who retained two seats, draw their support from the Catholic community and want to see a united Ireland.

Sinn Fein, which is the former political wing of the Provisional IRA, does not take up its seats in the House of Commons for ideological reasons.

But the party’s leader, Mary Lou McDonald, said it was time to, “prepare for a new future together on this island.”

PA Media contributed to this report.