South Antrim (UK Parliament constituency)

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For more details about the 1885-1922 UK Parliament constituency and the 1929-1973 Northern Ireland Parliament division see Antrim South
South Antrim
County constituency
South Antrim shown within Northern Ireland
Created: 1885, 1950
MP: William McCrea
Party: Democratic Unionist
Type: House of Commons
Districts: Antrim, Newtownabbey
EP constituency: Northern Ireland

South Antrim is a Parliamentary Constituency in the House of Commons and also an Assembly constituency in the Northern Ireland Assembly.

Contents

[edit] Boundaries

The seat was re-created in 1950 when the old Antrim two MP constituency was abolished as part of the final move to single member seats. The seat became one of the largest in the entire United Kingdom until 1983 when Northern Ireland received new seats. South Antrim was cut down heavily, losing a lot of territory to the new seats of East Antrim and Lagan Valley. In 1995 there were minor changes around the borders with North Belfast and West Belfast. The seat currently encompasses the entirety of the district of Antrim and part of the district of Newtownabbey.

[edit] Proposed Boundary changes

At the time of writing the Boundary Commission has proposed alterations for the boundaries of constituencies in Northern Ireland. It is proposed to transfer part of Newtownabbey from South Antrim to the North Belfast constituency. The changes will be subject to a series of consultations and it remains to be seen whether these proposals will be upheld.

[edit] History

For the history of the constituency prior to 1950, see Antrim.

South Antrim is an overwhelmingly unionist constituency which once had the strongest vote for the Ulster Unionist Party anywhere in the province. In 1951, it was one of the last four seats to be uncontested in a UK general election. In the 1979 general election James Molyneaux had the largest majority of any MP in the entire of the United Kingdom, helped also by having one of the largest electorates.

The boundary changes in 1983 reduced the Ulster Unionist vote somewhat, with a significant portion now contained by the new Lagan Valley (which Molyneaux then contested) but the constituency still gave strong results for the party.

However on April 27, 2000 the incumbent MP, Clifford Forsythe died. The ensuing by-election took place amidst a fierce political struggle between the Ulster Unionist Party and the Democratic Unionist Party over the Good Friday Agreement, an agreement that the UUP were themselves split over. The DUP had not contested the seat at the previous general election but on this occasion stood William McCrea, the former MP for Mid Ulster, who campaigned strongly on the DUP's refusal to co-operate with Sinn Fein in the absence of arms decommissioning by the IRA. The local UUP branch selected David Burnside to contest the seat who declared that he had supported the Good Friday Agreement at the time that it was signed but had since become disillusioned with its implementation. As a result many commentators predicted that whatever the outcome of the election it was a severe blow for the UUP's leader David Trimble. On a low turnout amidst a fierce contest McCrea narrowly won the seat.

Burnside was nominated again to contest the seat in the 2001 general election in which he overturned McCrea's majority, aided by tactical voting by SDLP and Alliance voters. However the DUP were eager to regain the seat and in the 2003 Assembly election they outpolled the UUP by 298 votes. In the 2005 general election McCrea defeated Burnside in their third contest, but with a noticeably lower swing than those garnered by other DUP candidates who ousted UUP MPs.

[edit] Westminster elections

[edit] Members of Parliament

The Member of Parliament is William McCrea of the Democratic Unionist Party. He was first elected to the seat in a by-election in 2000 but in the 2001 general election he was defeated by David Burnside of the Ulster Unionist Party. In the 2005 general election McCrea reversed that defeat.

[edit] Elections

General Election 2005: South Antrim
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Democratic Unionist William McCrea 14,507 38.2 +3.4
Ulster Unionist David Burnside 11,059 29.1 -8.0
Social Democratic & Labour Noreen McClelland 4,706 12.4 +0.3
Sinn Féin Henry Cushinan 4,407 11.6 +2.2
Alliance (NI) David Ford 3,278 8.6 +4.1
Majority 3,448 9.1
Turnout 37,957 56.7 -5.8
Democratic Unionist gain from Ulster Unionist Swing 5.7
General Election 2001: South Antrim
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Ulster Unionist David Burnside 16,366 37.1 -20.4
Democratic Unionist William McCrea 15,355 34.8 0.0
Social Democratic & Labour Sean McKee 5,336 12.1 -4.1
Sinn Féin Martin Meehan 4,160 9.4 +3.9
Alliance (NI) David Ford 1,969 4.5 -7.2
NI Unionist Norman Boyd 972 2.2 N/A
Majority 1,011 2.3
Turnout 44,158 62.5 +4.6
Ulster Unionist hold Swing
By-election 2000: South Antrim
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Democratic Unionist William McCrea 11,601 38.0 N/A
Ulster Unionist David Burnside 10,779 35.3 -22.2
Social Democratic & Labour Donovan McClelland 3,496 11.4 -4.7
Sinn Féin Martin Meehan 2,611 8.5 +3.0
Alliance (NI) David Ford 2,031 6.6 -5.0
Natural Law David Collins 49 0.2 -0.3
Majority 822 2.7
Turnout 43
Democratic Unionist gain from Ulster Unionist Swing 5.7
General Election 1997: South Antrim
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Ulster Unionist Clifford Forsythe 23,108 57.5 -13.9
Social Democratic & Labour Donovan McClellan 6,497 16.2 +2.6
Alliance (NI) David Ford 4,668 11.6 +0.7
Progressive Unionist Hugh Smyth 3,490 9.0
Sinn Féin H.J. Cushinan 2,229 5.5 +2.5
Natural Law B.A. Briggs 203 0.5 N/A
Majority 16,611 41.3
Turnout 57.8
Ulster Unionist hold Swing

[edit] Assemblies and Forum elections

The six MLAs for the constituency elected in the 2003 election are:

In the 1998 election the six MLAs elected were:

In the 1996 election to the Northern Ireland Peace Forum, 5 Forum members were elected from North Antrim. They were as follows:

In 1982 elections were held for an Assembly for Northern Ireland to hold the Secretary of State to account, in the hope that this would be the first step towards restoring devolution. South Antrim elected 10 members (an exceptionally high number which some commentators believe to be impractical) as follows:

In 1975 elections were held to a Constitutional Convention which sought (unsuccessfully) to generate a consensus on the future of the province. The eight members elected from South Antrim were:

In 1973 elections were held to the Assembly set up under the Sunningdale Agreement. The eight members elected from South Antrim were:

[edit] See also

Constituencies in Northern Ireland
DUP

Belfast East | Belfast North | East Antrim | East Londonderry | Lagan Valley | North Antrim | South Antrim | Strangford | Upper Bann
Sinn Féin

Belfast West | Fermanagh and South Tyrone | Mid Ulster | Newry and Armagh | West Tyrone
SDLP

Belfast South | Foyle | South Down
UUP

North Down
Northern Ireland European constituency: DUP (1) | Sinn Féin (1) | UUP (1)
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