Embracing her young son, who was clad in tractor pyjamas, Carla Lockhart gave credit to the support she received from her family after securing an overwhelming majority in the Upper Bann seat in the UK’s general election. Her son Charlie had accompanied her throughout the evening at Craigavon count centre. The Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) incumbent was expected to win, but even she was surprised at the impressive increase in her vote count, breaching 21,000 votes, despite changes to the boundaries.
Speaking to supporters in a heartfelt victory speech around 4 am, Lockhart remembered her late father, who she described as her most enthusiastic supporter and a constant fixture on the campaign trail. The election was a tough one for the DUP, with Lockhart stepping up to the podium after her party colleague Jonathan Buckley in Lagan Valley was defeated by the Alliance’s Sorcha Eastwood. Nonetheless, her win marked one of the party’s scarce highlights of the night.
Rishi Sunak of the Conservative Party acknowledged his defeat as the harsh reality of the election night for the Tories began to sink in. Lockhart, the only female MP of the DUP, was astounded by her victory. She hadn’t anticipated such a victory, mainly because the voting pool was reduced.
The constituency didn’t have a candidate from the TUV, as its leader Jim Allister gave his support instead to Lockhart due to her opposition to the so-called Donaldson deal relating to post-Brexit trade, which resulted in the resurrection of the Stormont regime.
Catherine Nelson from the Sinn Féin party secured the second spot in the race, amassing a total of 14,236 votes, mirroring the 2019 results with a different candidate. Nelson, an ex-educator who held the Upper Bann Assembly seat between 2016 and Stormont’s 2017 collapse, took over from John O’Dowd, the reputed infrastructure minister. Nelson pointed out the party’s historic achievement boosting their vote share in Upper Bann, indicating a preference for change.
The Alliance’s Eoin Tennyson, with a slightly smaller vote count of 6,322, managed to maintain his third-place position from the previous election. The Ulster Unionist party’s Kate Evans dropped to the fourth position with just 3,662 votes. In contrast, the SDLP’s Malachy Quinn received 1,496 votes.
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