Trimble loses Westminster seat

David Trimble became the biggest name casualty of the British general election tonight as his Ulster Unionist Party slumped.

The former Northern Ireland First Minister was comprehensively beaten in Upper Bann, losing to the Ian Paisley’s Democratic Unionists.

Trimble was beaten by a 7.98% swing to the DUP's David Simpson.

Mr Trimble’s defeat was a hammer blow for his party, which has seen a substantial swing across Northern Ireland to the DUP.

Earlier, the DUP’s Sammy Wilson captured Roy Beggs’s seat in East Antrim, while nationalist SDLP deputy leader Dr Alasdair McDonnell sensationally gained South Belfast from the UUP.

The defeat also cast major doubt on Mr Trimble’s future as Ulster Unionist leader.

In 1997, under his leadership, the UUP won 10 of Northern Ireland’s 18 seats. Eight years later, UUP sources were privately conceding the party could emerge from the general election with just one seat.

“This is a tsunami for the Ulster Unionist Party,” one UUP Assembly source said. “Upper Bann has gone, South Belfast has gone. Our seats are being swept away.”