Upper Bann (UK Parliament constituency)

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Upper Bann
County constituency
Upper Bann shown within Northern Ireland
Created: 1983
MP: David Simpson
Party: Democratic Unionist
Type: House of Commons
Districts: Craigavon, Banbridge
EP constituency: Northern Ireland

Upper Bann 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 created in boundary changes in 1983, as part of an expansion of Northern Ireland's constituencies from 12 to 17, and was predominantly made up from parts of Armagh and South Down. It was barely changed in further revisions in 1995 and covers the entirety of the district of Craigavon as well as part of Banbridge.

[edit] Proposed Boundary changes

In 2005, the Boundary Commission published provisional recommendations for modifying the boundaries of constituencies in Northern Ireland. It proposed transferring two small parts of Upper Bann to South Down and Lagan Valley. These changes were opposed during a series of consultations with the result that new recommendations were published which leave Upper Bann unchanged. As revised recommendations are rarely changed it is likely that these boundaries will be the final recommendations.

[edit] History

For the history of the equivalent constituencies prior to 1950 please see Armagh (UK Parliament constituency) and Down (UK Parliament constituency) and from 1950 until 1983, please see also South Down (UK Parliament constituency).

The constituency is overwhelming unionist, though the combined votes for nationalist parties have reached around 35% in elections. The Ulster Unionist Party has traditionally been dominant though it was come under serious pressure from the Democratic Unionist Party in recent years. The constituency contains Portadown and Drumcree, key locations for the Orange Order and elections to both local councils and the Northern Ireland Assembly have seen independent candidates standing on issues related to Orange Order parades performing well.

In 1990 the sitting MP, Harold McCusker, died and the subsequent by-election was noticeable as for the first time since the early 1970s two major UK political parties stood in a Northern Ireland parliamentary election, the Conservatives and the rump of the Social Democratic Party. However the result was disappointing for the Conservatives, whilst the SDP polled a mere 154 votes. In that by-election David Trimble was elected and five years later he became leader of the Ulster Unionist Party. Trimble's leadership came in for much criticism from the rival Democratic Unionist Party and they strongly targeted the area.

In the 2001 there was a strong rumour that the DUP leader Ian Paisley would contest the seat himself, in the hope of unseating Trimble, but in the event he stayed in his North Antrim constituency and the DUP instead nominated David Simpson. The campaign was amongst the most bitter in the entire province, with Trimble coming in for fierce personal attacks. He benefitted, however, from the decision of the Alliance Party of Northern Ireland to not contest the seat themselves but instead support them. When the results were counted Simpson was initially ahead and many believed he had won, but Trimble pulled ahead to hold the seat on a narrow majority of 2058.

In the subsequent 2003 assembly election the DUP were only 386 votes behind the UUP. Then in the 2005 general election Trimble was defeated by Simpson.

[edit] Westminster elections

[edit] Members of Parliament

The Member of Parliament, since the 2005 general election, is David Simpson of the Democratic Unionist Party. In that election he defeated David Trimble of the Ulster Unionist Party who had held the seat since a 1990 by-election.

[edit] Elections

General Election 2005: Upper Bann
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Democratic Unionist David Simpson 16,679 37.6 +8.1
Ulster Unionist David Trimble 11,281 25.5 -8.0
Sinn Féin John O'Dowd 9,305 21.0 -0.1
Social Democratic & Labour Dolores Kelly 5,747 13.0 -1.9
Alliance (NI) Alan Castle 955 2.2 +2.2
Workers Party Tom French 355 0.8 -0.2
Majority 5,398 12.2
Turnout 44,322 61.2 -9.1
Democratic Unionist gain from Ulster Unionist Swing +8.1


General Election 2001: Upper Bann
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Ulster Unionist David Trimble 17,095 33.5 -10.1
Democratic Unionist David Simpson 15,037 29.5 +18.0
Sinn Féin Dara O’Hagan 10,771 21.1 +9.0
Social Democratic & Labour Dolores Kelly 7,607 14.9 -9.3
Workers Party Tom French 527 1.0 -0.1
Majority 2,058 4.0
Turnout 51,037 70.3 +2.4
Ulster Unionist hold Swing
General Election 1997: Upper Bann
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Ulster Unionist David Trimble 20,836 43.6
Social Democratic & Labour Brid Rodgers 11,584 24.2
Sinn Féin Bernadette O'Hagan 5,773 12.1
Democratic Unionist Mervyn Carrick 5,482 11.5
Alliance (NI) William Ramsay 3,017 6.3
Workers Party Tom French 554 1.2
Conservative B. Price 433 0.9
Natural Law J. Lyons 108 0.2
Majority 9,252
Turnout 67.9
Ulster Unionist hold Swing
General Election 1992: Upper Bann
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Ulster Unionist David Trimble 26,824 59.0
Social Democratic & Labour Brid Rodgers 10,661 23.4
Sinn Féin Brendan Curran 2,777 6.1
Alliance (NI) William Ramsay 3,017 6.3
Conservative Collette Jones 1,556 3.4
Workers Party Tom French 1,120 2.5
Majority 16,163
Turnout 67.4
Ulster Unionist hold Swing
Upper Bann by-election, 1990
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Ulster Unionist David Trimble 20,547 58.0 -3.5
Social Democratic & Labour Brid Rodgers 6,698 18.9 -1.6
Sinn Féin Sheena Campbell 2,033 5.7 -1.7
Ulster Independence Movement Hugh Ross 1,534 4.3 N/A
Workers Party Tom French 1,083 3.1 -1.6
Conservative Colette Jones 1,038 3.0 N/A
Alliance (NI) William Ramsay 948 2.7 -3.2
Ulster Democratic Party Gary McMichael 600 1.7 N/A
Green Peter Doran 576 1.6 N/A
Independent Labour Erskine Holmes 235 0.6 N/A
Social Democrat Alistair Dunn 154 0.4 N/A
Majority 13,849
Turnout 53.4
Ulster Unionist hold Swing
General Election 1987: Upper Bann
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Ulster Unionist Harold McCusker 25,137 61.5 4.6
Social Democratic & Labour Brid Rodgers 8,676 20.5 3.7
Sinn Féin Brendan Curran 3,126 7.4 -2.0
Alliance (NI) Fionnuala Cook 2,487 5.9 N/A
Workers Party Tom French 2,004 4.7 -0.8
Majority 16,461
Turnout 66.0 -6.0
Ulster Unionist hold Swing
Upper Bann by-election, 1986
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Ulster Unionist Harold McCusker 29,311
Workers Party Tom French 6,978
Majority 22,333
Turnout
Ulster Unionist hold Swing
General Election 1983: Upper Bann
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Ulster Unionist Harold McCusker 24,888 56.9 N/A
Social Democratic & Labour J. McDonald 7,807 17.9 N/A
Democratic Unionist J. Wells 4,547 10.4 N/A
Sinn Féin Brendan Curran 4,110 9.4 N/A
Workers Party Tom French 2,392 5.5 N/A
Majority 17,081 N/A
Turnout 72.0 N/A
Ulster Unionist hold Swing

[edit] Assembly and Forum elections

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

In the 1998 election the six MLAs elected were:

Changes 1998-2003

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

[edit] Sources

[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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