TUV leader Jim Allister delighted at taking first seat in Belfast City Hall

TUV leader Jim Allister is jubilant after his party won its first seat in Belfast City Hall.

Joanne Bunting was elected as councillor to the Court ward in the new look super Belfast council.

It mean hardline unionists have picked up two seats in Court – last night PUP leader Billy Hutchinson topped the poll.

The elections of Bunting and Hutchinson is being seen as backing from grassroot working class voters on the Shankill Road who have come away from the DUP and UUP.

Joanne Bunting’s election mean that so far out of 50 candidates, the TUV now have nine councillors with their vote across the province standing at 4.47 per cent.

The UUP have also polled well with their vote standing at just under 17 per cent.

But the DUP and Sinn Fein are maintaining their grip on the councils across Northern Ireland.

In Derry, the SDLP got a bloody nose when it lost three seats to independents, including dissident republican Gary Donnelly.