Belfast: Sinn Féin councillor Ryan Murphy to become Lord Mayor

The next Lord Mayor of Belfast is set to be Sinn Féin's Ryan Murphy.

At 28, he will become one of the youngest councillors to take up the role as the city's first citizen.

He is expected to take over from party colleague Tina Black at Monday night's first meeting of Belfast City Council since May's local election.

Sinn Féin has more than a third of the seats on the council and is by far the largest party, with 22 of the 60 councillors.

Mr Murphy will become the party's 10th mayor of Belfast.

At the election, it won an extra four seats.

The DUP has 14 councillors in Belfast, Alliance 11, SDLP five, the Green Party three, Ulster Unionist Party two, while People Before Profit and the TUV each have one and there is a single independent councillor.

In an interview with BBC News NI, Mr Murphy insisted he would work for everyone in Belfast, not just republicans.

"You don't get anything done working on your own… I'll work with every other councillor in that chamber, all 59 of them," he said.

Mr Murphy is from the Ligoniel area of north Belfast.

He said he would work to become a "mayor for all".

He became a member of Sinn Féin in 2014 and was co-opted on to the council in 2018.

The 28-year-old was elected in 2019, then again last month.