Jim Shannon cruises to victory in Strangford

Jim Shannon cruises to victory in Strangford

9 June 2017

THE DUP's Jim Shannon has been returned to Westminster for Strangford with a massive 24,036 votes.
The stunning result saw him increase his already impressive 2015 tally of 15,053 votes by almost 10,000.
The Alliance Party's Kellie Armstong also had a good night, building on her success in the recent Assembly elections to beat the UUP to second place with 5,693 votes.
Mike Nesbitt for the UUP polled 4419 in third place.
DUP party supporters doing their own early analysis of the Strangford boxes at the Bangor Aurora count centre late on Thursday had expected their man to increase his standing, but were not expecting quite such a landslide.
The turnout in Strangford increased from 53.06% in 2015 to 60.36% this time round. The DUP say this partly explains their increase.
Speaking afterwards Mr Shannon said he was "flabbergasted" by the result, which he said showed the strength of the union in Strangford.
"It is also down to 33 years service," he said.
Mr Shannon also suggested it was time for a "singlular voice" in unionism in Strangford.
In his speech Mr Nesbitt offered Mr Shannon his congratulations and acknowledged a "phenomenal result".
"You are now officially a force of nature," he said.
Ms Armstrong said she was delighted to achieve a record breaking second place for her party and appealed to Mr Shannon to represent the interests of all Strangford voters at Westminster.
"It is time that we stood together for a better world," she said.
Other results were: Joe Boyle (SDLP) 2,404, Carole Murphy (Sinn Fein) 1,083, Ricky Bamford (Green Party) 607 and Claire Hiscott (Conservatives) 507.