The DUP has suffered a bruising set of election results in the North with the party suffering a seismic shock when Ian Paisley lost his seat, while Sinn Féin is the largest party in a Westminster election for the first time after holding all of its seven seats.
The Alliance Party’s Sorcha Eastwood also had a historic result as she triumphed in the unionist stronghold of Lagan Valley – the seat formerly held by DUP leader Jeffrey Donaldson.
The Paisley family had held the North Antrim seat for more than 50 years, but that legacy came to an end with the victory of TUV leader Jim Allister in the unionist heartland.
One bright spot in a disappointing night for the DUP was when leader Gavin Robinson held off the challenge of Alliance Party leader Naomi Long in East Belfast.
In North Down, Alliance deputy leader Stephen Farry lost his seat to independent unionist Alex Easton.
Sinn Féin retained its seats in Mid Ulster, North Belfast, Newry and Armagh, South Down, West Belfast and West Tyrone while the DUP held Upper Bann and East Antrim.
Former nursing union boss Pat Cullen held Fermanagh and South Tyrone for the republican party.
Sinn Féin’s emergence as the largest party, after similar results in Assembly and council elections, will intensify the debate around the region’s constitutional future.
The Ulster Unionist Party is returning to Westminster after former Stormont health minister Robin Swann took a seat from the DUP in South Antrim.
However, retired British army colonel Tim Collins, who ran for the UUP in North Down, blamed voters being more interested in “potholes and hedges” than international affairs after conceding defeat before the result was declared.
The SDLP retained the two seats held in the last parliament by its leader, Colum Eastwood in Foyle, and deputy leader, Claire Hanna in South Belfast and Mid Down.
