Mid Ulster (UK Parliament constituency)

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

Coordinates: 54°43′19″N 6°56′28″W / 54.722°N 6.941°W / 54.722; -6.941

Mid Ulster
County constituency
for the House of Commons

Outline map

Boundary of Mid Ulster in Northern Ireland.
Current constituency
Created 1950
Member of parliament Francie Molloy (Sinn Féin)
Created from Fermanagh and Tyrone
Overlaps
European Parliament constituency Northern Ireland

Mid Ulster is a parliamentary constituency in the British House of Commons.

Boundaries

1983-1997: the District of Cookstown; the District of Omagh; the District of Magherafelt wards of Ballymaguigan, Draperstown, and Lecumpher; and the District of Strabane wards of Castlederg, Clare, Finn, Glenderg, Newtownstewart, Plumbridge, Sion Mills, and Victoria Bridge.

1997-present: the District of Cookstown; the District of Magherafelt; and the District of Dungannon wards of Altmore, Coalisland North, Coalisland South, Coalisland West and Newmills, Donaghmore, and Washing Bay.

The constituency was created in 1950 when the old two-seat constituency of Fermanagh and Tyrone was abolished as part of the final move to single-member seats. Originally the seat primarily consisted of the northern, eastern and western parts of County Tyrone, with the south included in Fermanagh and South Tyrone. Of the post-1973 districts, it contained all of Omagh and Cookstown and part of Strabane and Magherafelt.

In boundary changes proposed by a review in 1995, the seat was split in two, with the name retained by the eastern half, even though it contained only 30% of the old seat. The western half became the nucleus of the new West Tyrone constituency. The new Mid Ulster also gained areas from East Londonderry and Fermanagh and South Tyrone, taking it deeper into County Londonderry.

History

For the history of the constituency prior to 1950, see Fermanagh and Tyrone.

In both its incarnations, Mid Ulster has seen a precarious balance between unionist and Irish nationalist voters, although in recent years the nationalists have advanced significantly to be in a clear majority. Many elections have seen a candidate from one side triumph due to candidates from the other side splitting the vote.

The seat was initially won by the Irish Nationalist Party in 1950 and 1951 then by Sinn Féin in 1955. However the Sinn Féin Member of Parliament (MP) was unseated on petition on the basis that his Irish Republican Army (IRA) convictions made him ineligible, and in subsequent by-elections the seat was won by the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP).

In a by-election in 1969, the seat was won by Bernadette Devlin standing as an independent socialist nationalist on the "Unity" ticket, which sought to unite nationalist voters behind a single candidate. At the age of 21, Devlin was the youngest person ever elected to the House of Commons in the era of universal suffrage. The by-election saw a 91.5% turnout, a record for any UK by-election.

Devlin held her seat in the 1970 general election but generated controversy when she had a child while still unmarried as well as for her fierce anti-clericalism. The Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) stood a candidate against her in the February 1974 general election and the nationalist vote was strongly divided, allowing John Dunlop of the Vanguard Progressive Unionist Party to win with the support of the UUP and the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP).

Dunlop held his seat for the next nine years, though in 1975 he was part of a large section of Vanguard that broke away to form the short lived United Ulster Unionist Party. He held his seat in 1979 only due to a unionist pact. He polled poorly in the 1982 Assembly election, taking 2.8% of the vote. Consequently, in 1983 he did not stand again and the following year the UUUP was wound up.

The 1983 general election saw a fierce contest for the seat, with the UUP, DUP, SDLP and Sinn Féin all polling strongly. The winner was the DUP's William McCrea, by a narrow majority of just 78 over Sinn Féin's Danny Morrison. In general elections from then to 2005 the UUP did not contest the seat.

Following the boundary changes, McCrea contested the new Mid Ulster in 1997 but, by then, Sinn Féin had established itself as the most likely party to outpoll a unionist and so drew votes from the SDLP, resulting in Martin McGuinness winning. He held the seat at the general elections of 2001, 2005 and 2010. During the 2001 general election, Mid-Ulster had the highest turnout in any constituency in the United Kingdom.

On 11 June 2012, McGuinness announced his intention to resign from the House of Commons to concentrate on his position as Deputy First Minister and avoid so-called 'double jobbing' by which members of the Northern Ireland Assembly also work as councillors or MPs.[1][2] This necessitated a by-election.[3] On 30 December 2012, Martin McGuinness formally announced he would resign his Westminster seat with immediate effect. Sinn Féin's Francie Molloy won the resulting by-election in March 2013.[4]

Members of Parliament

ElectionMemberParty
1950 Anthony Mulvey Independent Republican
1951 Michael O'Neill Independent Republican
1955 Tom Mitchell[note 1] Sinn Féin
1955 Charles Beattie[note 2] Ulster Unionist
1956 by-election George Forrest Independent Unionist
1957 Ulster Unionist
1969 by-election Bernadette Devlin Unity
1970 Independent Socialist
Feb 1974 John Dunlop Vanguard Progressive Unionist
1975 United Ulster Unionist
1983 William McCrea Democratic Unionist
1997 Martin McGuinness Sinn Féin
2013 by-election Francie MolloySinn Féin
  1. ↑ Disqualified by resolution of the House of Commons, 18 July 1955, subsequently won 1955 by-election then declared undue on petition; Return amended, 25 October 1955
  2. ↑ Declared duly elected on petition; disqualified by resolution of the House of Commons, 7 February 1956

Elections

Elections in the 2010s

General election 2015: Mid Ulster [5][6]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Sinn Féin Francie Molloy 19,935 48.7 -3.3
UUP Sandra Overend 6,318 15.4 +4.4
DUP Ian McCrea 5,465 13.4 -1.0
SDLP Malachy Quinn 5,055 12.4 -1.9
TUV Gareth Ferguson 1,892 4.6 -2.7
UKIP Alan Day 863 2.1 +2.1
Alliance Eric Bullick 778 1.9 +0.9
Workers' Party Hugh Scullion 496 1.2 +1.2
NI Conservatives Lucille Nicholson 120 0.3 +0.3
Majority 13,617 33.3 -4.3
Turnout 40,922 60.3 -2.9
Sinn Féin hold Swing -3.8

All comparisons with 2010 general election.

By-election 2013: Mid Ulster
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Sinn Féin Francie Molloy 17,462 46.9 -5.1
Independent Nigel Lutton 12,781 34.4 N/A
SDLP Patsy McGlone 6,478 17.4 +3.1
Alliance Eric Bullick 487 1.3 +0.3
Majority 4,681 12.6 -25.0
Turnout 55.7 -7.5
Sinn Féin hold Swing -3.4
general election 2010: Mid Ulster
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Sinn Féin Martin McGuinness 21,239 52.0 +2.4
DUP Ian McCrea 5,876 14.4 -9.1
SDLP Tony Quinn 5,826 14.3 -3.1
UCU-NF Sandra Overend 4,509 11.0 +0.3
TUV Walter Millar 2,995 7.3 N/A
Alliance Ian Butler 397 1.0 N/A
Majority 15,363 37.6 +13.4
Turnout 40,842 63.2 -10.0
Sinn Féin hold Swing +5.8

Elections in the 2000s

General Election 2005: Mid Ulster
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Sinn Féin Martin McGuinness 21,641 47.6 -3.5
DUP Ian McCrea 10,665 23.5 -7.6
SDLP Patsy McGlone 7,922 17.4 +0.6
UUP Billy Armstrong 4,853 10.7 +10.7
Workers' Party Francis Donnelly 345 0.8 -0.2
Majority 10,976 24.2
Turnout 45,426 73.2 -8.1
Sinn Féin hold Swing +2.1
General Election 2001: Mid Ulster
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Sinn Féin Martin McGuinness 25,502 51.1 +11.0
DUP Ian McCrea 15,549 31.1 -5.2
SDLP Eilish Haughey 8,376 16.8 -5.3
Workers' Party Francie Donnelly 509 1.0 +0.5
Majority 9,953 20.0
Turnout 49,936 81.3 -4.8
Sinn Féin hold Swing

Elections in the 1990s

General Election 1997: Mid Ulster
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Sinn Féin Martin McGuinness 20,294 40.1
DUP William McCrea 18,411 36.3
SDLP Denis Haughey 11,205 22.1
Alliance Ephrem Bogues 460 0.9
Workers' Party Marian Donnelly 238 0.5
Natural Law Maureen Murray 61 0.1
Majority 1,883 3.7
Turnout 50,669 85.8
Sinn Féin gain from DUP Swing
1992 Notional Results: Mid Ulster
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
DUP William McCrea 19,274 41.0
SDLP Denis Haughey 14,360 30.6
Sinn Féin Barry McElduff 11,340 24.4
Alliance Ann Gormley 1,229 2.6
Others 779 1.7
Majority 4,914 10.5
Turnout 7
DUP hold Swing

Between 1992 and 1996 there were significant boundary changes, creating the new seat of West Tyrone. This had a huge knock on effect on Mid Ulster, which lost all its areas in Omagh and Strabane district councils, and gained the Torrent LGD in Dungannon from Fermanagh and South Tyrone, and the parts of Magherafelt District Council previously in East Londonderry. Therefore the implied 1992 election results are very different from the actual ones and are displayed above.

General Election 1992: Mid Ulster
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
DUP William McCrea 23,181 42.3
SDLP Denis Haughey 16,994 31.0
Sinn Féin Barry McElduff 10,248 18.7
Alliance Ann Gormley 1,506 2.8
Labour and Trade Union Harry Hutchinson 389 0.7
Workers' Party Tommy Owens 285 0.5
Natural Law James Anderson 164 0.3
Majority 6,187 11.3
Turnout 52,767 79.3
DUP hold Swing

Elections in the 1980s

General Election 1987: Mid Ulster
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
DUP William McCrea 23,004 44.2
SDLP Denis Haughey 13,644 26.2
Sinn Féin Sean Begley 12,449 23.9
Alliance Paddy Bogan 1,846 3.5
Workers' Party Paddy Joe McLean 1,133 2.2
Majority 9,360 18.0
Turnout 77.4
DUP hold Swing
Mid Ulster by-election, 1986
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
DUP William McCrea 23,695 46.4
Sinn Féin Danny Morrisson 13,998 27.1
SDLP Adrian Colton 13,021 25.2
Workers' Party Tommy Owens 691 1.4
Majority 9,697
Turnout 51,405 77.6
DUP hold Swing
General Election 1983: Mid Ulster
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
DUP William McCrea 16,174 30.0
Sinn Féin Danny Morrison 16,096 29.9
SDLP Denis Haughey 12,044 22.4
UUP William Thompson 7,066 13.1
Alliance Aidan Logan 1,735 3.2
Workers' Party Tommy Owens 766 1.4
Majority 78 0.1
Turnout 53,881 84.3
DUP gain from UUUP Swing

Elections in the 1970s

General Election 1979: Mid Ulster
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
UUUP John Dunlop 29,249 44.7
SDLP Paddy Duffy 19,266 29.4
Irish Independence Patrick Fahy 12,055 19.9
Alliance Aidan Lagan 3,481 5.3
Republican Clubs Francie Donnelly 1,414 2.2
Majority 9,983 15.3
Turnout 65,465 80.4
UUUP gain from Vanguard Swing
General Election October 1974: Mid Ulster
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Vanguard John Dunlop 30,552 47.4
SDLP Ivan Cooper 25,885 40.1
Republican Clubs Francie Donnelly 8,091 12.5
Majority 4,667 7.2
Turnout 64,528 79.0
Vanguard hold Swing
General Election February 1974: Mid Ulster
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Vanguard John Dunlop 26,044 39.0
SDLP Ivan Cooper 19,372 29.1
Independent Socialist Bernadette McAliskey 16,672 25.0
Pro-Assembly Unionist Neville Thornton 4,633 7.0
Majority 6,632 10.0
Turnout 66,681 79.3
Vanguard gain from Unity Swing
General Election 1970: Mid Ulster
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Unity Bernadette Devlin 37,739 53.5
UUP Neville Thornton 31,810 45.1
Independent Michael Cunningham 771 1.1
National Socialist Phelim O'Neill 198 0.3
Majority 5,929 8.4
Turnout 90.9
Unity hold Swing

Elections in the 1960s

Mid Ulster by-election, 1969
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Unity Bernadette Devlin 33,648 53.3 N/A
UUP Anna Forrest 29,437 46.7 – 5.6
Majority 4,211 6.7 + 2.2
Turnout 63,085 91.5 + 7.6
Unity gain from UUP Swing
General Election 1966: Mid Ulster
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
UUP George Forrest 29,728 52.3
Independent Republican Tom Mitchell 27,168 47.8
Majority 2,560 4.5
Turnout 83.9
UUP hold Swing
General Election 1964: Mid Ulster
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
UUP George Forrest 29,715 51.6
Independent Republican Tom Mitchell 22,810 39.6
NI Labour Patrick McGarvey 5,053 8.8
Majority 6,905 12.0
Turnout 85.1
UUP hold Swing

Elections in the 1950s

General Election 1959: Mid Ulster
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
UUP George Forrest 33,093 70.0
Sinn Féin Tom Mitchell 14,170 30.0
Majority 18,923 40.0
Turnout 71.0
UUP hold Swing
Mid Ulster by-election, 1956
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Independent Unionist George Forrest 28,605 48.36
Sinn Féin Tom Mitchell 24,124 40.78
Anti-Partition Michael O'Neill 6,421 10.86
Majority 4,481 7.58
Turnout 59,150 88.43
Independent Unionist gain from Sinn Féin Swing
Mid Ulster by-election, 1955
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Sinn Féin Tom Mitchell 30,392
UUP Charles Beattie 29,586
Majority 806
Turnout
Sinn Féin hold Swing

The seat was awarded to Beattie on petition on the grounds that Mitchell's conviction as a felon made him ineligible to sit in Parliament. However, Beattie in turn was also found ineligible to sit due to holding an office of profit under the crown, triggering a further by-election.

General Election 1955: Mid Ulster
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Sinn Féin Tom Mitchell 29,737 50.2
UUP Charles Beattie 29,477 49.8
Majority 260 0.4
Turnout 88.6
Sinn Féin gain from Independent Republican Swing

Mitchell was subsequently unseated upon petition, on the grounds that his terrorist convictions made him ineligible to sit in Parliament.

General Election 1951: Mid Ulster
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Independent Republican Michael O'Neill 33,097 52.7
UUP John Shearer 29,701 47.3
Majority 3,396 5.4
Turnout 91.8
Independent Republican hold Swing
General Election 1950: Mid Ulster
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Independent Republican Anthony Mulvey 33,023 52.6 N/A
UUP John Shearer 29,721 47.4 N/A
Majority 3,302 5.2 N/A
Turnout 91.6
Independent Republican win (new seat)

See also

References

  1. ↑ McGuinness to inherit Adams' old British title under SF reorganisation Thejournal.ie
  2. ↑ http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-18396327
  3. ↑ MPs cannot formally resign. Rather, they can request to be formally appointed to an office of profit, thereby vacating the seat. Sinn Féin, however, reject elements of this process. The previous case of a Sinn Féin MP resigning was that of Gerry Adams, who simply resigned and Parliament operationalised his resignation by appointing him to an office of profit.
  4. ↑ http://www.eoni.org.uk/index/elections/mid-ulster-by-election-7_march_2013.htm
  5. ↑ election result http://www.eoni.org.uk/Elections/Election-results-and-statistics/Election-results-and-statistics-2003-onwards/Elections-2015/UK-Parliamentary-Election-Results/UK-Parliamentary-Election-Result-Belfast-East-(9) 24Aug15
  6. ↑ https://yournextmp.com/constituency/66133/mid-ulster

Further reading

External links

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