Northern Ireland: The DUP Hits the Jackpot
| Author | Jon Tonge |
| Date | 01 September 2017 |
| Published date | 01 September 2017 |
| DOI | 10.1177/2041905817726899 |
18 POLITICAL INSIGHT • SEPTEMBER 2017
The General Election in Northern
Ireland had major ramications
beyond the region. The ten victorious
Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) MPs
– a record haul for the Party – found themselves
occupying a pivotal position few could have
foreseen. Holding the balance of power at
Westminster, the DUP reactivated part of its
lengthy shopping list of items wanted from a
minority government constructed prior to the
2015 election, when a hung parliament had
been anticipated. The DUP’s election triumph
within its unionist constituency was matched
by Sinn Fein’s advance within the nationalist
community. The ‘big two’ now hold all bar one
seat in Northern Ireland.
Explaining the result
The DUP’s new position of strength
represented a dramatic transformation in
fortunes from the March 2017 Northern
Ireland Assembly election, when the party lost
10 seats and led Sinn Fein by a solitary seat,
with unionism losing its overall majority at
Stormont.
There were several reasons why the
DUP enjoyed a much better result in the
General Election, obtaining its highest-ever
Westminster election vote share. In March,
the DUP struggled to retain seats, partly
because the Assembly was being reduced in
size from 108 to 90. Representation for each
constituency was reduced from six to ve
Assembly members (MLAs). Most MLAs lost
by the DUP were in constituencies where the
party was attempting to hold a third seat.
DUP leader, Arlene Foster, had not misread
the mood of unionism in the Assembly election.
The DUP’s vote held rm against the Ulster
Unionist Party (UUP) whose leader, Mike Nesbitt,
The General Election –
The View from Across the UK
Jon Tonge reports from Northern Ireland, where the election cemented the ‘big two’ and left the DUP to
play a pivotal role in Westminster.
Northern Ireland:
The DUP Hits the Jackpot
Seats Change
from 2015
Votes % Vote share Change in % vote
share from 2015
DUP 10 +2 292,316 36.0 +10.3
Sinn Fein 7 +3 238,915 29.4 + 4.9
Independent 1 - 16,148 N/A N/A
SDLP 0 -3 95,419 11.7 - 2.2
UUP 0 -2 83,280 10.3 - 5.8
Alliance 0 0 64,553 7.9 - 0.6
Turnout 65.6% (+7.1%)
Table 1 2017 General Election Result in Northern Ireland (main parties)
immediately resigned. Now, under the
rst-past-the-post, winner-takes-all voting
system used exclusively for Westminster
elections, unionists had to choose a solitary
constituency representative for their
ethno-national bloc. Seen as the stouter
custodian of unionist interests, the DUP vote
soared and the UUP vote crumbled. Bereft
of Westminster representation (a repeat
of 2010-15) the future of the UUP appears
© Press Association
Political Insight Sept2017.indd 18 21/07/2017 11:57
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