Lagan Valley (UK Parliament constituency)

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For other constituencies of the same name, see Lagan.
Lagan Valley
County constituency
Lagan Valley shown within Northern Ireland
Created: 1983
MP: Jeffrey Donaldson
Party: Democratic Unionist
Type: House of Commons
Districts: Lisburn, Banbridge
EP constituency: Northern Ireland

Lagan Valley is a Parliamentary Constituency in the United Kingdom House of Commons.

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 South Antrim and North Down. In their original proposals, in January 1980, the boundary commission proposed calling it 'Lagan'. In further revisions in 1995 it lost some areas to both Belfast West and Strangford. Currently the constituency contains most of Lisburn district and part of Banbridge district.

[edit] Proposed Boundary changes

At the time of writing the Boundary Commission has published provisional recommendations for modifying the boundaries of constituencies in Northern Ireland. It is proposed to transfer one part of Lagan Valley to Belfast West and one part of Upper Bann to Lagan Valley. 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 equivalent constituencies prior to 1950 please see Antrim (UK Parliament constituency) and Down (UK Parliament constituency) and from 1950 until 1983, please see South Antrim (UK Parliament constituency) and North Down (UK Parliament constituency).

The constituency is overwhelmingly unionist and has traditionally had one of the highest votes for the Ulster Unionist Party in all of Northern Ireland, due in part to the personal popularity of James Molyneaux. Since his retirement in 1997 the seat has been represented by Jeffrey Donaldson who many initially saw as the rising star of the UUP. However Donaldson had a fractious relationship with the party which at times has been reflected in the election results. In the 1998 Assembly election he was controversially and publicly blocked from standing. In that election the UUP lost votes to many fringe unionist parties. In the 2001 general election the votes for the UUP, Democratic Unionist Party and Alliance Party of Northern Ireland all remained remarkably steady compared to significant shifts elsewhere in the province. Then in the 2003 Assembly election Donaldson was allowed to stand, despite at this point having resigned the UUP whip at Westminster. The UUP had their best result in the election, in part due to no candidate from either the UK Unionist Party or Northern Ireland Unionist Party defending one of the seats won in 1998. Donaldson's fractious relations with the UUP continued and the following month he, together with fellow assembly member Norah Beare, left the party and joined the Democratic Unionist Party. In the 2005 general election he held his seat for his new party.

[edit] Members of Parliament

The Member of Parliament since 1997 is Jeffrey Donaldson who was elected as a member of the Ulster Unionist Party but switched to the Democratic Unionist Party in 2004. He succeeded James Molyneaux who had represented the seat for the UUP since the 1983 general election and previously sat for the old South Antrim constituency which covered much of the same area.

[edit] Elections

General Election 2005: Lagan Valley
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Democratic Unionist Jeffrey Donaldson 23,289 54.7 +41.3
Ulster Unionist Basil McCrea 9,172 21.5 -35.0
Alliance (NI) Seamus Close 4,316 10.1 -6.5
Sinn Féin Paul Butler 3,197 7.5 +1.6
Social Democratic and Labour Patricia Lewsley 2,598 6.1 -1.4
Majority 14,117 33.2
Turnout 42,572 60.2 -3.0
Democratic Unionist gain from Ulster Unionist Swing +38.1
General Election 2001: Lagan Valley
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Ulster Unionist Jeffrey Donaldson 25,966 56.5 +1.1
Alliance (NI) Seamus Close 7,624 16.6 -0.6
Democratic Unionist Edwin Poots 6,164 13.4 -0.1
Social Democratic and Labour Patricia Lewsley 3,462 7.5 -0.2
Sinn Féin Paul Butler 2,725 5.9 +3.4
Majority 18,342 39.9
Turnout 45,941 63.2 +1.0
Ulster Unionist hold Swing
General Election 1997: Lagan Valley
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Ulster Unionist Jeffrey Donaldson 24,560 55.4
Alliance (NI) Seamus Close 7,635 17.2
Democratic Unionist Edwin Poots 6,005 13.6
Social Democratic and Labour Dolores Kelly 3,436 7.8
Conservative Stuart Sexton 1,212 2.7
Sinn Féin Sue Ramsey 1,110 2.5
Workers Party Frances McCarthy 203 0.5
Natural Law Hugh Finlay 149 0.3
Majority 16,925 38.2
Turnout 44,310 62.2
Ulster Unionist hold Swing
General Election 1992: Lagan Valley
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Ulster Unionist Jim Molyneaux 29,772 60.8
Alliance (NI) Seamus Close 6,207 12.7
Social Democratic and Labour Hugh Lewsley 4,626 9.5
Conservative Timothy Coleridge 4,423 9.0
Sinn Féin Patrick Rice 3,346 6.8
Workers Party Ann Marie Lowry 582 1.2
Majority 23,565 48.1
Turnout 48,956 67.3
Ulster Unionist hold Swing
General Election 1987: Lagan Valley
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Ulster Unionist Jim Molyneaux 29,101 70.0
Alliance (NI) Seamus Close 5,728 13.8
Social Democratic and Labour Billy McDonnell 2,888 6.9
Sinn Féin Patrick Rice 2,656 6.4
Workers Party John Lowry 1,215 2.9
Majority 23,373 56.2
Turnout 41,588 64.4
Ulster Unionist hold Swing
Lagan Valley by-election, 1986
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Ulster Unionist Jim Molyneaux 32,514 90.7
Workers Party John Lowry 3,328 9.3
Majority 29,186
Turnout 57.8
Ulster Unionist hold Swing
General Election 1983: Lagan Valley
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Ulster Unionist Jim Molyneaux 19,469 37.9
Democratic Unionist William Beattie 12,207 23.8
Social Democratic and Labour Seamus Close 9,397 18.3
Sinn Féin Cormac Boomer 7,073 13.8
Alliance (NI) Richard McAuley 2,401 4.7
Workers Party Gerard Loughlin 819 1.6
Majority 7,262 14.1
Turnout 51.366 85.5
Ulster Unionist hold Swing

[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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