Election 2024: Who are Northern Ireland’s new MPs?

In one of the biggest political upsets of the election in Northern Ireland, Traditional Unionist Voice (TUV) leader Jim Allister took the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) stronghold seat of North Antrim from Ian Paisley.

He won by 450 votes, polling 11,642 to Mr Paisley’s 11,192. The result has ended the Paisley family’s reign in the constituency – between them the outgoing MP and his father, DUP co-founder Rev Ian Paisley, had held the seat since 1970.

Mr Allister, a barrister, is a former member of the DUP but quit the party over its decision to share power at Stormont with Sinn Féin in 2007, going on to establish the TUV.

He is a former member of the European Parliament and has been his party’s only representative in the Stormont Assembly.

Mr Allister was a supporter of Brexit but has been highly critical of the Northern Ireland Protocol and Windsor Framework, which he says threaten the constitutional position of NI within the United Kingdom.

He said his election was a “new starting point” for North Antrim, and that he would oppose Northern Ireland’s post-Brexit trading arrangements in the House of Commons.