'Consolidation' for DUP in Lisburn and Castlereagh but Alliance closing in

In the early stages of the vote counting, the party leader and Lagan Valley MP looked on as one after one almost all of the DUP’s councillors were returned in each of the seven electoral areas (DEAs) – but the margins have been getting a bit tighter.

By the time the counting concluded in the early hours of Saturday morning, the party had lost only one seat from the 15 it held going into the election, despite its share of the vote dropping to 36.7% from 34% in 2019.

The shock casualty was the DUP mayor of Lisburn and Castlereagh, Scott Carson, who failed to get elected in Lisburn North.

Another shock exit from the council in this DEA was former Alliance mayor Stephen Martin.

Although this council area is clearly no longer the DUP stronghold it once was, Sir Jeffrey Donaldson said the poll results showed it remains a “strong base” for his party.

As he watched long-serving representatives Thomas Beckett, Jonathan Craig and Andrew Ewing reach the quota in the first round of counting – along with two Sinn Fein and two Alliance candidates – Sir Jeffrey said: “The DUP vote is holding up…. Lisburn and Castlereagh remains a very strong base for the DUP”.

However, the normally raucous DUP celebrations greeting each returned candidate were a little more subdued than usual, leaving Alliance to raise the decibel levels in response to further electoral gains.

Having attracted only 12% of the vote in 2014, securing seven seats on the council, Alliance more than doubled its vote share in 2019 (23.6% and nine seats) and has now grown to 28.5% and won 13 seats – just one short of the DUP’s total.

All of the 40 available seats had been decided by 2.30am on Saturday.

The final breakdown by party was: DUP 14; Alliance 13; UUP 6; Sinn Fein 4; SDLP 2 and one Independent.

It was another very disappointing election for the Ulster Unionists as the party suffered a further drop in its vote share, down to 14% (-3.6%) from 2019, and losing five councillors from the eleven returned last time around.

One of the key UUP figures to lose out was Jenny Palmer (Lisburn South), although her DEA running mate Tim Mitchell was returned on the final count along with the DUP’s Paul Porter.

Lagan Valley MLA Emma Little Pengelly remained at the Lisburn Leisureplex count centre and day and all evening and said she was “proud of the incredible performance” of the DUP candidates.

In Lisburn North, Paul Burke became the first Sinn Fein member to represent the area, with former SDLP MLA Pat Catney also being returned.

Nicholas Trimble, son of the late UUP leader David, was also returned is this DEA along with the DUP’s Jonathan Craig.

Former NI Conservatives assembly candidate Gary Hynds was also elected in Lisburn North as the council’s only Independent member.

In his acceptance speech, he said he had knocked on more than 5,000 doors in an effort to get elected.

Sinn Fein’s four seats on the council is the result of the party increasing its vote share by 5.6% – up from 5.4% in 2019 when it won two seats.

The SDLP has continued to slip and now lags well behind Sinn Fein in Lisburn/Castlereagh.

Only Pat Catney and John Gallen (Castlereagh South) were elected to the council, with the party’s share of the vote dropping to 6.7% (down from 8.7% in 2019).

The TUV failed to improve on the 2.3% vote share from the last election, leaving the party without representation on the council.