IT was an astounding victory for the SDLP’s Claire Hanna in last week’s general election.
Standing as the incumbent of the newly formed Belfast South and Mid Down constituency, Ms Hanna received 49.1% of the vote.
Ms Hanna emphatically topped the poll with 21,345 votes, with Alliance’s Kate Nicholl coming home second with 8,839 votes.
Throughout Thursday night and Friday morning, the SDLP were confident that they would retain their two Westminster seats, with party leader Colm Eastwood being re-elected with a majority of over 4,000 votes.
The new constituency now includes Saintfield and Moneyreagh. However voter turnout was down considerably, from 67.7% in 2019 to 58.54%.
While Ms Hanna’s share of the vote share ped by 4.2%, the 2019 election had a completely different political context.
That election saw a pact in certain constituencies whereby Sinn Féin, the Green Party and the SDLP stood aside to ensure a pro-European candidate was returned to Westminster.
With the exception of Sinn Féin, every party put forward a candidate this time round, but Ms Hanna comprehensively outperformed all of them.
In her victory speech, Ms Hanna paid tribute to her opponents Kate Nicholl and the TUV’s Dan Boucher, who were both present on the podium, for the nature in which they ran their campaigns.
“With our best politics on show, South Belfast and Mid Down is so lucky to have elected representatives and candidates of your character, and I look forward to working with you every day in the coming years to improve our constituency,” she said.
Ms Hanna also thanked her husband, Donal, and her three children for their continued support in what she described as a very full-on six weeks.
“I want to thank my husband Donal, who is my favourite out of all my co-conspirators who is always there for me.
“I also want to thank my incredible team, who are too numerous to name and too brilliant to define and I thoroughly enjoyed hanging out with you all day and all night for several months – it’s been an absolute pleasure. You make me so proud of our shared politics and what we have done together, and I will spend the next five years trying to honour the effort you put into this campaign.”
Ms Hanna also thanked the those who voted for her and vowed to work tirelessly hard for all her constituents.
“I want to thank you for placing your trust in me,” she said.
“It’s an absolute honour to have the job that shines the light on all the brilliant things South Belfast and Mid Down have to offer, but also focusing on the things that need to improve.
“We have a lot still to do,” she added.
“We have a lot of work in the next mandate on fair funding and stability to stop the future collapse of the Assembly and I can’t wait to get stuck back into doing that.”
After her speech, Ms Hanna said she enjoyed canvassing in Mid Down and looked forward to learning more about the area.
“I have lived in South Belfast for many years but it’s exciting that we have new areas in our constituency,” she said.
“My team and I started preparation work for the campaign in July last year and we were delighted to speak to people in Saintfield and Moneyreagh – it was really positive.”
As well as expressing her optimism for the next mandate, Ms Hanna said she was thrilled that Millennium Integrated Primary School had finally been given the go-ahead for a new school.
“As a mum of three, education is so important to me,” she explained.
“I am delighted that the school is getting the build it deserves – it was shocking how often they were left in limbo, but I’m glad it’s finally off the ground.”
Matthew O’Toole, the SDLP’s Assembly leader, described Ms Hanna as an amazing MP.
The Downpatrick man said he believed that the future looked bright for the SDLP and that the party would make gains in future elections.
“We are delighted to see Claire returned to Westminster,” he said.
“Claire has been an amazing voice for South Belfast and she will continue to do the work that matters most to people.
“I’d say it’s been a positive day for the SDLP. Our voter share has shown signs of improvement and I think us being in opposition has resonated with people – it gives us a purpose and definition but as Claire said in her speech there is still a lot of work to be done.”