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- For other constituencies of the same name, see Strangford (disambiguation).
Strangford is a Parliamentary Constituency in the United Kingdom House of Commons.
[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 North Down. In 1995, the Commission controversially recommended abolishing the constituency and dividing it between North Down and new constituencies of Mid Down and Castlereagh & Newtownards. This was successfully opposed in local enquiries and since 1995 it is now made up of parts of the districts of Ards, Castlereagh and Down.
Despite the name the seat does not currently contain the town of Strangford which is instead a part of South Down.
[edit] Boundary changes
Initially the Northern Ireland Boundary Commission published provisional recommendations for modifying the boundaries of Strangford. This included changes to the boundary between two of Belfast's constituencies and Strangford, and the renaming of the seat as Mid Down.
Following consultation, the electoral districts to make up the constituency to be fought at the next UK general election are as follows;Northern Ireland Parliamentary Constituencies Order
- Ballygowan, Ballyrainey, Ballywalter, Bradshaw’s Brae, Carrowdore, Central, Comber East, Comber North, Comber West, Glen, Gregstown, Killinchy, Kircubbin, Lisbane, Loughries, Movilla, Portaferry, Portavogie, Scrabo, and Whitespots, from the Ards district.
- From the Down district; Ballymaglave, Ballynahinch East, Derryboy, Killyleagh, Kilmore, and Saintfield
- The Moneyreagh ward from Castlereagh district
[edit] History
For the history of the equivalent constituencies prior to 1950 please see Down (UK Parliament constituency) and from 1950 until 1983, please see North Down (UK Parliament constituency).
The constituency is overwhelmingly unionist, with the combined votes for nationalist parties rarely exceeding 10%. However there have been significant votes for parties outside the traditional unionist block, such as the Alliance and the Conservatives, whilst the UK Unionist Party has also polled well here, challenging the two main unionist parties. At the local level independent council candidates have polled well.
The main interest in elections has been the contest between the Ulster Unionist Party and the Democratic Unionist Party. Until 2001 the UUP were clearly ahead of the DUP in the Westminster elections, but elections to regional assemblies and local government were much closed. In 2001 the sitting MP John Taylor stood down and the contest to succeed him was fierce. The seat was won by Iris Robinson for the Democratic Unionist Party and the subsequent 2003 assembly election saw the DUP increase their vote further. There is scepticism as to whether the UUP can retake the seat, though the proposed boundary changes may alter matters.
[edit] Members of Parliament
The Member of Parliament since the 2001 general election is Iris Robinson of the Democratic Unionist Party. She succeeded John Taylor of the Ulster Unionist Party.
[edit] Election results
| Notional 1992 Election Result: Strangford |
| Party |
Candidate |
Votes |
% |
±% |
|
Ulster Unionist |
N/A |
20,473 |
49.0 |
N/A |
|
DUP |
N/A |
8,295 |
19.9 |
N/A |
|
Alliance |
N/A |
6,736 |
16.1 |
N/A |
|
Conservative |
N/A |
5,945 |
14.2 |
N/A |
|
Others |
N/A |
295 |
0.7 |
N/A |
| Majority |
12,178 |
29.2 |
N/A |
