South Antrim (UK Parliament constituency)

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
Former County constituency
for the House of Commons
1885 (1885)–1922 (1922)
Replaced by	Antrim
Created from	Antrim, Lisburn

South Antrim is a Parliamentary Constituency in the United Kingdom House of Commons.

Contents 1 Boundaries 1.1 Proposed changes 2 History 3 Members of Parliament 3.1 MPs 1885–1922 3.2 MPs since 1950 4 Elections 4.1 Elections in the 2010s 4.2 Elections in the 2000s 4.3 Elections in the 1990s 4.4 Elections in the 1980s 4.5 Elections in the 1970s 4.6 Elections in the 1960s 4.7 Elections in the 1950s 4.8 Elections in the 1910s 4.9 Elections in the 1900s 4.10 Elections in the 1890s 4.11 Elections in the 1880s 5 See also 6 References

Boundaries

From 1885, this constituency was one of four county divisions of the former Antrim constituency. It comprised the baronies of Massereene Upper, Massereene Lower, and Antrim Upper, and parts of the Baronies of Upper Toome and Belfast Upper, and so much of the Parliamentary Borough of Belfast as was in the County of Antrim.

It returned one Member of Parliament. In 1922, it was merged into a new Antrim constituency.

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 was reduced in size for the 1964 General Election, with the town of Carrickfergus and the areas between it and Larne town transferred to North Antrim. Additionally some territory was transferred to Belfast West^[1] Despite these changes, the seat had become the largest in the entire United Kingdom by the time of the Northern Ireland Assembly elections of 1982, by which time its electorate had passed the 131,000 mark.^[2] For the 1983 General Election Northern Ireland received new seats. Consequently, South Antrim was significantly reduced, losing a lot of territory to the new seats of East Antrim and Lagan Valley as well as minor sections to Belfast West, Belfast North and Upper Bann. The new South Antrim which was fought for the 1983 election contained only 43% of the previous seat.^[3] In 1995 there were minor changes around the borders with North Belfast and West Belfast. The seat fought at the 2005 election encompassed the entirety of the district of Antrim and part of the district of Newtownabbey.

Following consultation of boundary changes across Northern Ireland, the altered South Antrim constituency fought at the United Kingdom general election, 2010 is made up as follows^[4]

• Glenavy from Lisburn City government area
• Ballyclare North, Ballyclare South, Ballyduff, Ballynure, Ballyrobert, Burnthill, Carnmoney, Doagh, Hawthorne, Mallusk, and Mossley, from Newtownabbey
• The district of Antrim

Proposed changes

As part of the nation-wide Sixth Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies, the Boundary Commission for Northern Ireland propose transferring Glenavy to Lagan Valley, whilst bringing in to a modified South Antrim the areas around Jordanstown, and Greenisland^[5].

History

South Antrim is an overwhelmingly unionist constituency which once had the strongest vote for the Ulster Unionist Party anywhere in the province. From 1886 to 1974 the Conservative and Unionist members of the United Kingdom House of Commons formed a single Parliamentary party, and they continuously represented South Antrim

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 in the new Lagan Valley (which Molyneaux then contested) but the constituency still gave strong results for the party.

However, in April 2000 the Ulster Unionist incumbent, Clifford Forsythe, died suddenly. 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 Féin 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.

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.

MPs 1885–1922

Election		Member	Party
	1885	William Ellison-Macartney	Conservative
	1886		Irish Unionist
	1903 by-election	Charles Craig	Irish Unionist
1922		constituency abolished

MPs since 1950

Election		Member	Party
1950		constituency recreated
	1950	Douglas Lloyd Savory	Ulster Unionist
	1955	Knox Cunningham	Ulster Unionist
	1970	James Molyneaux	Ulster Unionist
	1983	Clifford Forsythe	Ulster Unionist
	2000 by-election	William McCrea	Democratic Unionist
	2001	David Burnside	Ulster Unionist
	2005	William McCrea	Democratic Unionist

Elections

Elections in the 2010s

General Election 2010: South Antrim[6]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Democratic Unionist	William McCrea	11,536	33.9	-4.3
	Conservatives and Unionists	Reg Empey	10,353	30.4	+1.3
	Sinn Féin	Mitchel McLaughlin[7]	4,729	13.9	+2.3
	SDLP	Michelle Byrne[8]	2,955	8.7	-3.7
	Alliance	Alan Lawther	2,607	7.7	-0.9
	Traditional Unionist Voice	Mel Lucas	1,829	5.4	+5.4
Majority			1,183	3.5	-5.6
Turnout			34,009	53.9	-3.4
	Democratic Unionist hold		Swing

Elections in the 2000s

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
	SDLP	Noreen McClelland	4,706	12.4	+0.3
	Sinn Féin	Henry Cushinan	4,407	11.6	+2.2
	Alliance	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
	SDLP	Sean McKee	5,336	12.1	-4.1
	Sinn Féin	Martin Meehan	4,160	9.4	+3.9
	Alliance	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
	SDLP	Donovan McClelland	3,496	11.4	-4.7
	Sinn Féin	Martin Meehan	2,611	8.5	+3.0
	Alliance	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

Elections in the 1990s

General Election 1997: South Antrim
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Ulster Unionist	Clifford Forsythe	23,108	57.5	-13.9
	SDLP	Donovan McClelland	6,497	16.2	+3.4
	Alliance	David Ford	4,668	11.6	+0.7
	Progressive Unionist	Hugh Smyth	3,490	9.0	N/A
	Sinn Féin	Henry Cushinan	2,229	5.5	+2.5
	Natural Law	Barbara A. Briggs	203	0.5	N/A
Majority			16,611	41.3
Turnout				57.8
	Ulster Unionist hold		Swing

General Election 1992: South Antrim
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Ulster Unionist	Clifford Forsythe	29,956	70.9
	SDLP	Donovan McClelland	5,397	12.8
	Alliance	John Blair	5,244	12.4
	Sinn Féin	Henry Cushinan	1,220	2.9
	Independent	Denis Dino Martin	442	1.1	N/A
Majority			24,559
Turnout			42,259	62.9
	Ulster Unionist hold		Swing

Elections in the 1980s

General Election 1987: South Antrim
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Ulster Unionist	Clifford Forsythe	25,395	69.8
	Alliance	Gordon Mawhinney	5,808	16.0
	SDLP	Donovan McClelland	3,611	9.9
	Sinn Féin	Henry Cushinan	1,592	4.4
Majority			19,587	53.8
Turnout				62.9
	Ulster Unionist hold		Swing

South Antrim by-election, 1986
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Ulster Unionist	Clifford Forsythe	30,087	94.1
	"For the Anglo-Irish Agreement"	"Peter Barry"	1,870	5.9	N/A
Majority			28,217
Turnout				53.5
	Ulster Unionist hold		Swing	N/A

General Election 1983: South Antrim
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Ulster Unionist	Clifford Forsythe	17,727	45.7
	Democratic Unionist	Roy Thompson	10,935	28.2
	Alliance	Gordon Mawhinney	4,612	11.9
	SDLP	Alban Maginness	3,377	8.7
	Sinn Féin	Sean Laverty	1,629	4.2
	Workers' Party	Kevin Smyth	549	1.4
Majority			6,792	17.5
Turnout				65.5
	Ulster Unionist hold		Swing

Elections in the 1970s

General Election 1979: South Antrim
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Ulster Unionist	James Molyneaux	50,782	69.0
	Alliance	Charles Kinahan	11,914	16.2
	SDLP	Patrick Rowan	7,432	10.1
	Independent Labour	Bob Kidd	1,895	2.6
	Republican Clubs	Kevin Smyth	1,615	2.2
Majority			38,868	52.8
Turnout				58.2
	Ulster Unionist hold		Swing

General Election October 1974: South Antrim
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Ulster Unionist	James Molyneaux	48,892	71.5
	Alliance	Charles Kinahan	10,460	15.3
	SDLP	Patrick Rowan	9,061	13.2
Majority			38,432	56.2
Turnout				58.1
	Ulster Unionist hold		Swing

General Election February 1974: South Antrim
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Ulster Unionist	James Molyneaux	48,203	67.6
	Alliance	Charles Kinahan	12,559	17.6
	SDLP	Patrick Rowan	8,769	12.3
	Independent	Bob Kidd	1,801	2.5
Majority			35,644	50.0
Turnout				61.1
	Ulster Unionist hold		Swing

General Election 1970: South Antrim
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Ulster Unionist	James Molyneaux	59,589	61.2
	Labour (NI)	Robert Johnston	19,971	20.5
	Independent Unionist	Tom Caldwell	10,938	11.2
	National Democrats	Daniel MacAllister	6,037	6.2
	Liberal	Rodney Smith	913	0.9
Majority			39,618	40.7
Turnout				68.0
	Ulster Unionist hold		Swing

Elections in the 1960s

General Election 1966: South Antrim
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Ulster Unionist	Knox Cunningham	40,840	64.3
	Labour (NI)	Sydney Stewart	22,672	35.7
Majority			18,168	28.6
Turnout				55.9
	Ulster Unionist hold		Swing

General Election 1964: South Antrim
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Ulster Unionist	Knox Cunningham	47,325	69.9
	Labour (NI)	Sydney Stewart	16,531	24.4
	Independent Republican	Leo Wilson	3,830	5.7
Majority			30,794	45.5
Turnout				64.3
	Ulster Unionist hold		Swing

Elections in the 1950s

General Election 1959: South Antrim
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Ulster Unionist	Knox Cunningham	52,786	95.1
	Sinn Féin	Michael Traynor	2,745	4.9
Majority			50,041	90.1
Turnout				59.3
	Ulster Unionist hold		Swing

General Election 1955: South Antrim
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Ulster Unionist	Knox Cunningham	50,347	90.7
	Sinn Féin	Michael Traynor	5,155	9.3
Majority			45,192	81.4
Turnout				65.3
	Ulster Unionist hold		Swing

General Election 1951: South Antrim
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Ulster Unionist	Douglas Lloyd Savory	Unopposed	N/A	N/A
	Ulster Unionist hold		Swing	N/A

General Election 1950: South Antrim
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Ulster Unionist	Douglas Lloyd Savory	41,023	83.6
	Labour (NI)	Edward Brown	8,068	16.4
Majority			32,955	67.1
Turnout				63.3
	Ulster Unionist hold		Swing

Elections in the 1910s

General Election 1918: South Antrim
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Irish Unionist	Charles Curtis Craig	13,270	85.13	N/A
	Sinn Féin	Kevin Roantree O'Shiel	2,318	14.87	N/A
Majority			10,952	70.26	N/A
Turnout			23,235	67.09	N/A
	Irish Unionist hold		Swing	N/A

General Election Dec 1910: South Antrim
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Ulster Unionist	Charles Curtis Craig	Unopposed	N/A	N/A
	Ulster Unionist hold		Swing	N/A

General Election January 1910: South Antrim
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Irish Unionist	Charles Curtis Craig	5,310	69.41	N/A
	Liberal	William Moffat Clow	2,340	30.59	N/A
Majority			2,970	38.82	N/A
Turnout			9,900	77.27	N/A
	Irish Unionist hold		Swing	N/A

Elections in the 1900s

General Election 1906: South Antrim
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Ulster Unionist	Charles Curtis Craig	Unopposed	N/A	N/A
	Ulster Unionist hold		Swing	N/A

South Antrim by-election, 1903
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Irish Unionist	Charles Curtis Craig	4,464	55.25	+0.86
	Russellite Unionist	Samuel Robert Keightley	3,615	44.75	+44.75
Majority			849	10.51	+1.73
Turnout			10,236	78.93	+13.86
	Irish Unionist hold		Swing	N/A

General Election 1900: South Antrim
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Irish Unionist	William Grey Ellison Macartney	3,674	54.39	N/A
	Independent Unionist	Samuel Lawther	3,081	45.61	N/A
Majority			593	8.78	N/A
Turnout			10,381	65.07	N/A
	Irish Unionist hold		Swing	N/A

Elections in the 1890s

General Election 1895: South Antrim
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Irish Unionist	William Grey Ellison Macartney	Unopposed	N/A	N/A
	Irish Unionist hold		Swing	N/A

General Election 1892: South Antrim
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Irish Unionist	William Grey Ellison Macartney	Unopposed	N/A	N/A
	Irish Unionist hold		Swing	N/A

Elections in the 1880s

General Election 1886: South Antrim
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Irish Unionist	William Grey Ellison Macartney	Unopposed	N/A	N/A
	Irish Unionist hold		Swing	N/A

General Election 7 December 1885: South Antrim
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	William Grey Ellison Macartney	5,047	57.83	N/A
	Liberal	John Doherty Barbour	3,680	42.17	N/A
Majority			1,367	15.66	N/A
Turnout			10,824	80.63	N/A

See also

• List of Parliamentary constituencies in Northern Ireland

References

• Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "A" (part 2)

Constituencies in Northern Ireland (18) DUP (8) Belfast North East Antrim East Londonderry Lagan Valley North Antrim South Antrim Strangford Upper Bann Sinn Féin (5) Belfast West Fermanagh and South Tyrone Mid Ulster Newry and Armagh West Tyrone SDLP (3) Belfast South Foyle South Down Alliance (1) Belfast East Independent (1) North Down Northern Ireland European constituency Sinn Féin (1 seat) DUP (1 seat) UUP (1 seat)