Fermanagh and South Tyrone's UUP candidate Diana Armstrong says she believed her late father - a former MP for the area - would have been "chuckling" to see her fight to win his old seat back again.

Harry West was leader of the UUP from 1974-9 and also MP for Fermanagh South Tyrone briefly from February to October 1974.

"I think my dad would have been chuckling and very proud," she told the News Letter of her campaign.

Ms Armstrong, a UUP councillor, suffered defeat to Sinn Fein's Pat Cullen, who won by a margin of almost 4,600 votes.

placeholder image — The UUP Fermanagh South Tyrone candidate Diana Armstrong arrives at Meadowbank Sports Arena, Magherafelt, during the count for the 2024 General Election. Picture date: Friday July 5, 2024.

It was accepted that while the DUP and TUV approved her as a unity candidate, they did not actively campaign for her because she was not a non-party political candidate.

She refused to say if that was a key factor in her defeat.

"That is up to them to ponder on," she said, adding that she received "a warm welcome" on the doors from members of those parties.

In 2019 Tom Elliott polled 21,929 votes compared to her 20,273, which was a drop of 1.9%.

However the real change this time was a surge of 6.1% in the Sinn Fein vote.

Like former MP Tom Elliott, she believes a boundary change in the constituency could have cost unionism significant votes - she estimates up to 2,500.

She acknowledged that even aside from that, it was still not a very close race.

"There's a lot of elections this year worldwide, and people were probably just fed up with another one.”

She added: "But I still think, you know, we have done extremely well in this constituency and I am very pleased with my team, and the work that we've delivered."