Kidd to work for women

“To be honest I was gobsmacked. It is daunting that people have that much faith in me and hopefully that faith will be rewarded. I will endeavour to do whatever is asked of me and I intend to fully participate in council life,” she said.

“I was shocked that I polled so many first preference votes, but I have to admit that there may have been a certain expectation that I would do well because of my association with my mother, Mildred, but from my perspective if is one thing for people to say something to you but another for it to come to fruition, and it seems my colleagues expected me to poll well,” she said, adding: “As the only woman in the DUP I will be campaigning on women’s issues, and given my job I would also like to work to see young people develop a hunger for politics.”

Also facing the voting public for the first time, and elected to the seat formerly held by DUP stalwart William Hay, was Gary Middleton, who said he was “over the moon” with the result.

“All the hard work has paid off. I was sitting with 1,219 and the quota was 1,316, so I got in on the sixth stage with 1,732, but we knew from the first stage that I was in and it was just a formality, but I still had to wait,” he said.

“I am absolutely delighted and I think it was all down to good vote management. I think there was only something like 200 votes between us and we are now looking forward to working within our constituency. Our first meeting will be in the next couple of weeks and after that I will be getting right down to constituency work,” said Mr Middleton.

“I would like to pay tribute to William Hay. I am delighted to have kept this seat within the DUP, and I would like to thank everyone who voted and offered support,” he said.