Independent unionist Alex Easton unseats Alliance deputy leader in North Down

Mr Easton won 20,913 votes compared to Mr Farry’s 13,608 votes.

In a tearful speech, Mr Easton said his father had always believed in him.

Mr Easton’s mother and father, both aged in their 80s, died following a fire at a property in Bangor in January 2023.

Earlier in the evening as he appeared to be polling well, Mr Easton said: “I have waited all my life for this moment.”

Mr Farry said he had a “disappointing” night and the party would reflect on the overall result over the weekend.

He had won the seat at the 2019 general election ahead of Mr Easton, then a DUP representative, amid a period of bitter division following Brexit.

Five years later, the same two men faced off for the same seat with Mr Easton as an independent candidate, which Mr Farry called “a masterstroke” of his campaign.

Just before 3am, Mr Farry all but conceded and said Mr Easton had “rebranded himself successfully” as an independent.

“I look back at the last five years with a lot of pride, we have achieved a lot of things and I think it was very important that I stood by my vision and my values for North Down and indeed for Northern Ireland and further afield,” he said.

“I’ve been in politics now for the best part of 30 years and I’ve had far more ups than downs. I go in to politics – we all do – knowing it’s a very difficult trade to be in, there’s lots of external factors that come into play.”

His comments came after UUP candidate and retired colonel Tim Collins also conceded, and put the reason for polling just 6,754 votes on people being more interested in local issues such as “potholes and hedges” instead of international affairs.

Barry McKee from the Green Party got 1,247 votes, the SDLP’s Deirdre Vaughan got 657 and Independent Chris Carter got 117.

Turnout in the constituency was 58.83%.