Sinn Fein has hailed a “new era” for Northern Ireland as they became the largest party at Stormont for the first time and pushed the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) into second place.
The Irish nationalist party’s vice-president Michelle O’Neill said it was a “defining moment for our politics and our people” and said she wanted to “work together” with the DUP to restore power-sharing arrangements at Stormont.
Sinn Fein has won 27 seats and received 29 per cent of first preference votes, compared with 23 seats and 21.3 per cent of first preference votes for the DUP – raising the prosect of the first-ever Irish nationalist first minister.
Scotland’s first minister Nicola Sturgeon, whose nationalist party also made gains in local elections, said earlier it would be an “extraordinary result” if Sinn Fein came out on top and “something that seemed impossible not that long ago”.
Over in England, the Conservatives have recorded a loss of nearly 500 seats in local elections to date as well as a string of flagship councils, including the London boroughs of Wandsworth and Westminster.
