The dust has just about settled on last week's local council election,

and already we're looking ahead to the next one.

And we've been wondering,

what if what just happened across Northern Ireland's 11 councils

was to happen in our 18 Westminster seats

when the general election happens, presumably, sometime next year?

What if the takeaways from last Thursday's result,

the coalescing of the nationalist

vote around Sinn Féin, the ongoing divisions within unionism, the continuing growth of alliance,

were all to inform how we vote in 12 or 18 months' time? It's unscientific, we know, but as a political

parlour game, it might just be entertaining to play. So, joining me to indulge in a bit

of well-informed fantasy politics, our Dr Nicholas White, an acknowledged expert on Northern Ireland

elections and electoral systems, Dr. Claire Rice from the University of Liverpool, who's written

widely on the politics of this place and our former political editor, Mark Devonport. Welcome to all of you.

Great to have you with us. Nicholas, let's just get the health warning out of the way before we go

any further. We know you can't simply transfer across last week's results onto a hypothetical

general election map. First of all, there are 11 council areas, there are 18 Westminster

constituencies, and there are two very areas, there are 18 Westminster constituencies,

and there are two very different electoral systems at work. PRSTV for the locals first past

the post in a general election. But there are, I think, some broad lessons we can maybe learn

from what's just happened. I think that's right. I think we must always bear in mind that

the best predictor of future votes is the way that past votes have been cast.

...