Strangford (UK Parliament constituency)

For other constituencies of the same name, see Strangford (disambiguation).

Coordinates: 54°29′02″N 5°37′05″W / 54.484°N 5.618°W / 54.484; -5.618

Strangford
County constituency for the House of Commons
Boundary of Strangford in Northern Ireland.
Current constituency
Created	1983
Member of parliament	Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist)
Overlaps
European Parliament constituency	Northern Ireland

Strangford is a parliamentary constituency in the United Kingdom House of Commons.

Boundaries

The seat was created after 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. At its creation the constituency was formed from the local government district of Ards, and the Castlereagh districts of Beechill, Fourwinds, Hillfoot, Lower Braniel, Minnowburn, Moneyreagh, Newtownbreda, and Upper Braniel.^[1]

In 1995, the Commission controversially recommended abolishing the constituency and dividing it between North Down and new constituencies of Mid Down, and Castlereagh and Newtownards. This was successfully opposed in local enquiries and from the 1997 general election it was 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.

For the 2010 general election the electoral wards which make up the constituency are:^[2]

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

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.

The constituency has been represented by Unionist candidates since it was formed. There have not been significant votes for parties outside the traditional unionist block, although as the Alliance has saved its deposit in every election.

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 closer. 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.

Members of Parliament

The first Member of Parliament for the seat was John Taylor of the Ulster Unionist Party. After the 2001 general election, he was succeeded by Iris Robinson (the wife of Peter Robinson) of the Democratic Unionist Party. Robinson resigned in January 2010 after a scandal involving financial dealings.^[3] However, no by-election was held, as the next general election was held in May.

	Member^[4]	Party
1983	John Taylor	Ulster Unionist
2001	Iris Robinson	Democratic Unionist^*
2010	Jim Shannon	Democratic Unionist

^* Note: Iris Robinson left the DUP shortly before taking Chiltern Hundreds to leave the Commons

Election results

Elections in the 2010s

General Election 2015: Strangford ^[5]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	NI Conservatives	Johnny Andrews
	Alliance	Kellie Armstrong
	Sinn Féin	Sheila Bailie
	SDLP	Joe Boyle
	UUP	Robert Burgess
	TUV	Stephen Cooper
	UKIP	Joe Jordan^[6]
	DUP	Jim Shannon
Majority
Turnout

General Election 2010: Strangford
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	DUP	Jim Shannon	14,926	45.9	-8.8
	UCU-NF	Mike Nesbitt	9,050	27.8	+2.6
	Alliance	Deborah Girvan	2,828	8.7	+0.5
	SDLP	Claire Hanna	2,164	6.7	-1.8
	TUV	Terry Williams	1,814	5.6	+5.6
	Sinn Féin	Michael Coogan	1,161	3.6	-0.1
	Green (NI)	Barbara Haig	562	1.7	+1.7
Majority			5,876	18.1
Turnout			32.505	53.7	-3.4
	DUP hold		Swing

Elections in the 2000s

General Election 2005: Strangford
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	DUP	Iris Robinson	20,921	56.5	+13.7
	UUP	Gareth McGimpsey	7,872	21.3	-19.0
	Alliance	Kieran McCarthy	3,332	9.0	+2.3
	SDLP	Joe Boyle	2,496	6.7	+0.6
	Conservative	Terry Dick	1,462	3.9	N/A
	Sinn Féin	Dermot Kennedy	949	2.6	+0.4
Majority			13,049	35.2
Turnout			37,032	53.6	-6.3
	DUP hold		Swing	+16.4

General Election 2001: Strangford
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	DUP	Iris Robinson	18,532	42.8	+12.6
	UUP	David McNarry	17,422	40.3	-4.0
	Alliance	Kieran McCarthy	2,902	6.7	-6.4
	SDLP	Danny McCarthy	2,646	6.1	-0.6
	Sinn Féin	Liam Johnston	930	2.2	+0.9
	NI Unionist	Cedric Wilson	822	1.9	N/A
Majority			1,110	2.5
Turnout			43,254	59.9	+0.4
	DUP gain from UUP		Swing

Elections in the 1990s

General Election 1997: Strangford
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	UUP	John Taylor	18,431	44.3	+0.7
	DUP	Iris Robinson	12,579	30.2	+6.5
	Alliance	Kieran McCarthy	5,467	13.1	−3.8
	SDLP	Peter O'Reilly	2,775	6.7	N/A
	Conservative	Gilbert Chalk	1,743	4.2	−10.9
	Sinn Féin	Garret O'Fachtna	503	1.2	N/A
	Natural Law	Sarah Mullins	121	0.3	−0.4
Majority			5,852	14.1	−5.8
Turnout			41,619	59.5	−5.5
	UUP hold		Swing

Notional 1992 Election Result: Strangford
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	UUP	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

General Election 1992: Strangford
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	UUP	John Taylor	19,517	43.6
	DUP	Sammy Wilson	10,606	23.7
	Alliance	Kieran McCarthy	7,585	16.9
	Conservative	Stephen Eyre	6,782	15.1	N/A
	Natural Law	David Shaw	295	0.7	N/A
Majority			8,911	19.9
Turnout			44,785	65.0
	UUP hold		Swing

Elections in the 1980s

General Election 1987: Strangford
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	UUP	John Taylor	28,199	75.9
	Alliance	Addie Morrow	7,553	20.3
	Workers' Party	Imelda Hynds	1,385	3.7	N/A
Majority			20,646	55.6
Turnout			37,137	57.6
	UUP hold		Swing

Strangford by-election, 1986
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	UUP	John Taylor	32,627	94.2
	"For the Anglo-Irish Agreement"	"Peter Barry"	1,993	5.8
Majority			30,634	88.5
Turnout			34,620	55.0
	UUP hold		Swing

General Election 1983: Strangford
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	UUP	John Taylor	19,086	48.8	N/A
	DUP	Simpson Gibson	11,716	30.0	N/A
	Alliance	Addie Morrow	6,171	15.8	N/A
	SDLP	James Curry	1,713	4.4	N/A
	Independent Labour	Samuel Heath	430	1.1	N/A
Majority			7,370	18.8	N/A
Turnout			39,116	64.9	N/A
	UUP hold		Swing	N/A

References

↑ Crewe, Ivor (1983). British Parliamentary Constituencies – A Statistical Companion. faber and faber. ISBN 0-571-13236-7.
↑ The Parliamentary Constituencies (Northern Ireland) Order 2008 National Archives
↑ Iris Robinson 'to step down as MP and MLA next week' BBC News, 9 January 2010
↑ Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "S" (part 5)
↑
↑ "uk-northern-ireland-30100750". Retrieved 1 March 2015.

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) DUP (1) UUP (1)