| As I write this at just after 11am it has gone from sun in Belfast to rain. So it was all week, rainy at times then on election day in East Belfast where I polled hundreds of voters and compiled this report sunny all afternoon and evening. As dawn broke at the Titanic election centre on Friday I looked outside and it was fabulously clear. I Northern Ireland in July!
What an election. Overall it seemed disastrous for unionists but it wasn't actually, their overall vote once again pulled 3% clear of nationalists yet I didn't see a single BBC story that isolated that key fact - it led all day on SF becoming largest NI party at Westminster.
It was the DUP that suffered badly, in a targeted swing against them as did the Tories, not unionists. That higher unionist vote share is what I consider in this article to be one 10 of the less noticed aspects of the election outcome and its implications for unionists/Northern Ireland. Another point is that these results challenge the idea that Alliance will never be harmed by being so open to all Ireland and woke politics. Here is our political editor David Thompson on the election results. There is so much else to read in our election coverage that I will just say: rummage in our website for more or buy our bumper election special print edition, which is in the shops today and tomorrow. Enjoy your reading and your Saturday, Ben | 