Unionists furious at Maskey's election

Unionists are furious at the election of Sinn Fein's Alex Maskey as Mayor of Belfast and they turned their anger on the three members of the cross-community Alliance Party who supported him.

Defeated mayoral candidate Chris McGimpsey said: ‘‘This is a disgraceful decision, rewarding an organisation which has been involved in the destruction of Belfast over the past 30 years.

‘‘What it means for the council is that there is no partnership. Unionists will not be working with Sinn Fein at civic government at the highest level.’’

The Ulster Unionist councillor said his party would not be seeking the role of deputy mayor at the next meeting of the city council.

He claimed the election of Mr Maskey should serve as a reminder to all those Unionist voters who stayed away from the ballot boxes at last year’s local government elections why they should vote.

Democratic Unionist councillor Nelson McCausland described the vote as a ‘‘night of shame’’ for the city.

He said it was also ‘‘a night of sadness for all those who have suffered at the hands of IRA Sinn Fein over the past 30 years’’.

Belfast councillors also failed to elect a deputy mayor to serve alongside Mr Maskey.