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- For other constituencies of the same name, see Lagan.
Lagan Valley is a Parliamentary Constituency in the United Kingdom House of Commons.
[edit] Boundaries
The seat was created 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 light of representations that the Lagan was a dirty polluted river but that the Lagan Vally was a stretch of attractive countryside, the current name was adopted. 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] Boundary changes
Following their review of all parliamentary seats in Northern Ireland, the Boundary Commission for Northern Ireland have made some alterations to Lagan Valley which will be effective from the next UK general election. In an unprecedented decision, passed by Parliament through the Northern Ireland Parliamentary Constituencies Order [1], one electoral ward will be split between two constituencies. This follows concerns in Derryaghy about being moved into the neighbouring West Belfast seat.
The areas making up the modified Lagan Valley seat are;
- From Lisburn City government area; Ballinderry, Ballymacash, Ballymacbrennan, Ballymacoss, Blaris, Dromara, Drumbo, Harmony Hill, Hilden, Hillhall, Hillsborough, Knockmore, Lagan Valley, Lambeg, Lisnagarvey, Maghaberry, Magheralave, Maze, Moira, Old Warren, Seymour Hill, Tonagh, and Wallace Park. The area of Derryaghy to the south and east of its boundary with Lagmore is also within this seat.
- Dromore North, Dromore South, Gransha, and Quilly, from the Banbridge district
[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
[edit] See also
