McNarry left the UUP and joined UKIP in October 2012, becoming UKIP's first MLA and first ever Member of a devolved Assembly in the United Kingdom. In 2013, McNarry was elected unopposed as the UKIP Leader in Northern Ireland. In the May 2014 local government elections, under McNarry's stewardship, UKIP gained two new local councillors in the region, taking the total number of UKIP councillors in Northern Ireland up to four. The party also received 24,584 (3.9%) first preference votes in the 2014 European election in Northern Ireland and although they failed to win a seat, this was a significant electoral performance. At the September 2014 UKIP national conference in Doncaster, McNarry delivered a keynote speech which was warmly received by delegates. He received praise from commentators who referred to the speech as a "statesman-like" address. In the speech, he noted that UKIP was the only UK-wide party to have elected representation in each of the four parts of the UK. Under McNarry's stewardship, councillors from the DUP, TUV, and a former UUP Belfast Lord Mayor, Bob Stoker, defected to the party.