General Election: Surge of 51,000 new NI voters have registered for election amid Brexit tensions

The party’s director of policy Lee Reynolds was speaking after the Electoral Office confirmed just over 51,000 more people have registered to vote in this election compared to the last Westminster poll in 2017.

The figures appear to signify a massive surge in interest in every constituency across Northern Ireland, with many grassroots unionists feeling it is their opportunity to ‘secure the Union’ and oppose ‘the Boris Betrayal Act’ which would result in new customs checks on goods moving into Northern Ireland from Great Britain.

The North Belfast contest between DUP deputy leader Nigel Dodds and Sinn Fein’s John Finucane has captured countless headlines in recent weeks as part of the Brexit tensions, but also amid ongoing debate over the continued stasis of Stormont as public services continue to degrade.

Mr Reynolds acknowledged rumours that many of the new people on the register were unionists.

“But it is impossible to say whether the surge has been in nationalist or unionist voters,” he said.

“Wards where these new voters are based cross over both nationalist and unionist communities.

“What we can say is that just because someone is newly registered does not make any difference. They have to turn out and vote.

“The 51,000 new names on the register come from every constituency.

Some of the traditionally closest seats have seen the largest spike, with North Belfast and South Belfast seeing 3,976 and 3,876 while Foyle has 4,022.

Most seats have seen over 2,000 new names with West Belfast, Lagan Valley, Newry and Armagh, North Down and South Antrim seeing around 3,000 or more. North Antrim has the least with 1,477 new names.