North Antrim

Coordinates: 55°07′16″N 6°19′44″W / 55.121°N 6.329°W / 55.121; -6.329

North Antrim County constituency
North Antrim shown within Northern Ireland
Created:	1885, 1950
MP:	Ian Paisley
Party:	Democratic Unionist
Type:	House of Commons
Districts:	Ballymena, Ballymoney, Moyle
EP constituency:	Northern Ireland

North Antrim is a Parliamentary Constituency in the United Kingdom House of Commons. Its current member is Ian Paisley.

Boundaries

Giant's Causeway.

North Antrim has always been a county constituency comprising the northern part of County Antrim in the north-east of Northern Ireland. It has the sea to the north and east and parts of the border with County Londonderry to the west - the County Antrim town of Portrush is included in the East Londonderry constituency.

From 1885, this constituency was one of four county divisions carved out of the former constituency of Antrim. It comprised the baronies of Cary, Dunluce Lower, Dunluce Upper and Kilconway and returned one Member of Parliament from 1885 until 1922, when it was merged into a new Antrim constituency.

North Antrim 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 has had relatively few changes over the years and currently contains exactly the districts of Ballymena, Ballymoney and Moyle.

The constituency is largely rural. Amongst the features within its boundaries are Rathlin Island and Giant's Causeway.

Boundary changes

Rathlin Island

The Boundary Commission initially proposed alterations for the boundaries of North Antrim, currently one of the largest electorate of any constituency in Northern Ireland. It was proposed to transfer Ballycastle and the Glens, including Rathlin Island, in Moyle to East Antrim and rename that seat Antrim Coast & Glens. However that proposal raised many questions, with some arguing that the Glens have no natural ties to Jordanstown.

Following consultation and revision, the constituency alterations have been passed through the Northern Ireland Parliamentary Constituencies Order. The local areas now making up the altered North Antrim are;

• The whole government areas of Ballymena, and Ballymoney
• From Moyle, Armoy, Ballylough, Bushmills, Bonamargy and Rathlin, Carnmoon, Dalriada, Dunseverick, Glenshesk, Glentaisie, Kinbane, Knocklayd, Moss-Side, and Moyarget.

History

North Antrim is an overwhelmingly unionist seat. It first existed from 1885 to 1922. From 1886 to 1974 the Conservative and Unionist members of the United Kingdom House of Commons formed a single Parliamentary party.

Unusually for Ireland, the Liberal Party retained significant strength in this constituency after the split over Home Rule in 1886. The Irish Parliamentary Party never contested the seat.

In 1906 the constituency was won by a Russellite Unionist, at least somewhat linked to the Liberal Party. Although the Unionists regained the seat when the sitting MP retired, the constituency was one of very few Unionist/Liberal marginals in Ireland at both 1910 elections.

A victory for the Unionist candidate in 1918 by 9,621 votes to Sinn Féin's 2,673 votes demonstrated the strength of the unionist support in the area.

In 1922, the constituency reverted to being part of the two member Antrim seat (as it had been before 1885). North Antrim was re-created in 1950 as a larger seat than it had been in its first incarnation. County Antrim, excluding the parts in the Belfast constituencies, was split into two divisions instead of four as previously. The 1950 North Antrim was comparable to the North and Mid Antrim divisions which had existed from 1885 to 1922.

Since 1950 the Westminster elections have been relatively uncompetitive. In 1951, it was one of the last four seats to be uncontested in a UK general election. More recently, one man has repeatedly won by a large majority. The Reverend Ian Richard Kyle Paisley was first elected as a Protestant Unionist Party candidate in the 1970 general election. The following year that party changed to the Democratic Unionist Party and Paisley has held the seat ever since. This is the longest continuous period for which the current holding party has held any Northern Irish seat. In elections at all levels, the DUP have frequently had their highest share of the vote in North Antrim and have rarely been seriously challenged.

Surprisingly perhaps, to outsiders, there has been anecdotal evidence of a number of Catholic voters in the constituency voting for Ian Paisley despite his views, presumably because of his strong reputation for his constituency work.^[1] 30% of residents were Catholic at the 2001 UK Census. Some allowances must be made Catholic apathy against overwhelming odds, and for residents aged under 18 but, in comparison, the proportion of nationalist voters in recent elections has been 23% (2001 local government), 26.6% (2001 general election), 27.6% (2003 assembly election), 26.8% (2005 local government) and 27.9% (2005 general election).

There has been speculation that Ian Paisley will step down at the next UK general election. It is widely expected that, if he does, the new DUP candidate will be his son, Ian Paisley, Jr. In September 2007, however, he announced his intention to stand at the next General election. ^[2] Former DUP Euro MEP Jim Allister has announced that he will contest the constituency for the Traditional Unionist Voice ^[3]

According to straw polls, the constituency was alone in Northern Ireland in voting against the Belfast Agreement.

Members of Parliament

The Member of Parliament since the 1970 general election is the Rev. Dr. Ian Paisley. He was initially elected as a member of the Protestant Unionist Party but since 1971 has sat for the Democratic Unionist Party.

North Antrim has had comparatively few MPs in its lifetime compared to other parliamentary constituencies. Sir Hugh O'Neill had sat for one of the predecessor seats of Mid Antrim between 1915 and 1922 and Antrim between 1922 until 1950, making this one of the few seats where four individuals between them represented the seat continuously over a period of ninety years.

MPs 1885–1922

MPs since 1950

Elections

Elections in the 2000s

Elections in the 1990s

Elections in the 1980s

Elections in the 1970s

Elections in the 1960s

Elections in the 1950s

Elections in the 1910s

Elections in the 1900s

Elections in the 1890s

Elections in the 1880s

Sources

• Guardian Unlimited Politics (Election results from 1992 to the present)
• http://www.psr.keele.ac.uk/ (Election results from 1951 to the present)
• Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs– Constituencies beginning with "A" (part 2 )
• F. W. S. Craig, British Parliamentary Election Results 1950 - 1970

References

See also

• List of Parliamentary constituencies in Northern Ireland

[Category:Politics of County Antrim]]