East Antrim (UK Parliament constituency)
Template:Short description Template:For Template:Use Hiberno-English Template:Use dmy dates Template:Infobox UK constituency main East Antrim is a parliamentary constituency in the United Kingdom House of Commons. The MP Template:As of is Sammy Wilson of the Democratic Unionist Party.
A constituency with the same name is also used for elections to the Northern Ireland Assembly.
Constituency profile
The seat covers the east coast from Cushendun down to Carrickfergus. The seat is strongly unionist and one of the few areas of Northern Ireland which voted to leave the European Union.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
History
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1885 until 1922
The constituency was a strongly conservative then unionist area, where republican and nationalist candidates were not elected.
From 1886 to 1974 the Conservative and Unionist members of the United Kingdom House of Commons formed a single Parliamentary party. From 1905 there was an Ulster Unionist organisation, but MPs sponsored by it are classified as Irish Unionists until the 1921 Northern Ireland general election made the partition of Ireland effective so that Irish Unionism ceased to be a realistic objective.
A victory for the Unionist candidate in 1918 by 15,206 votes to Sinn Féin's 861 votes demonstrated the virtual unanimity of the unionist support.
Sinn Féin did not contest the 1919 by-election in the constituency.
In 1922, the constituency was incorporated into the Antrim constituency, which from 1950 until 1983 was divided into the North Antrim and South Antrim constituencies.
The First Dáil
Sinn Féin contested the 1918 general election on the platform that instead of taking up any seats they won in the United Kingdom Parliament, they would establish a revolutionary assembly in Dublin. In republican theory every MP elected in Ireland was a potential Deputy to this assembly. In practice only the Sinn Féin members accepted the offer.
The revolutionary First Dáil assembled on 21 January 1919 and last met on 10 May 1921. The First Dáil, according to a resolution passed on 10 May 1921, was formally dissolved on the assembling of the Second Dáil. This took place on 16 August 1921.
In 1921 Sinn Féin decided to use the UK authorised elections for the Northern Ireland House of Commons and the House of Commons of Southern Ireland as a poll for the Irish Republic's Second Dáil. This area, in republican theory, was incorporated in a seven-member Dáil constituency of Antrim.
Constituency since 1983
The constituency is overwhelmingly unionist, with the combined votes for nationalist parties rarely exceeding 10%. However, there have been above average votes for parties outside the traditional unionist block, such as the Alliance and the Conservatives. In the local government elections for the equivalent area many votes often go to independent candidates or groups such as the Newtownabbey Ratepayers Association. While the SDLP sprung a surprise in 1998 by overtaking a DUP candidate to win the final seat due to Ulster Unionist transfers – the first time that any nationalist candidate has benefited in this way.
The main interest in Westminster Elections has been the contest between the Ulster Unionist Party and the Democratic Unionist Party. In 1983 the UUP were only 367 votes ahead of the DUP. As part of a pact to oppose the Anglo-Irish Agreement the DUP did not contest the seat until 1992 but they still failed to come close, though in the 1996 elections to the Northern Ireland Forum they were only slightly behind the UUP. But in the 2001 general election they achieved an astonishing result when they came with 128 votes of winning the Westminster seat, despite not having targeted it. In the 2003 Assembly election they followed this up by gaining two additional MLAs and outpolling the UUP for the first time.
The DUP remained eager to take the Westminster seat and in the 2005 general election they did so.
Boundaries
The original county constituency comprised the eastern part of County Antrim, being carved out of the constituency of County Antrim. From 1885, East Antrim consisted of the baronies of Belfast Lower and Glenarm Upper, that part of the barony of Antrim Upper not in the constituency of South Antrim, that part of the barony of Antrim Lower not in the constituency of Mid Antrim, that part of the barony of Belfast Upper consisting of the parish of Ballymartin and the parish of Templepatrick apart from the townland of Ballyutoag, and the town of Carrickfergus.
It returned one Member of Parliament from 1885 to 1922.
The current seat was recreated 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 Antrim and South Antrim. Since further revisions in 1995 (when it lost part of the district of Newtownabbey to the North Belfast constituency) it now covers the entirety of the districts of Larne and Carrickfergus, as well as part of Newtownabbey and Moyle.
Prior to the 2010 general election the Boundary Commission originally proposed two significant changes for East Antrim. In the south of the constituency it was proposed to transfer a further part of Newtownabbey to the North Belfast constituency whilst in the north the seat would have gained the Glens and Ballycastle in Moyle district from North Antrim. East Antrim would have been renamed 'Antrim Coast & Glens'. However this latter part of the proposal raised many questions, with some already arguing that the Glens have no natural ties to Jordanstown (and in 1995 the previous Boundary Commission cited this very reason when rejecting such a proposal).
Following consultation and revising the recommendations, the new boundaries for East Antrim were confirmed and passed through Parliament by the Northern Ireland Parliamentary Constituencies Order as follows:<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
- The district of Carrickfergus
- The district of Larne
- Glenaan, Glenariff, and Glendun from the Moyle district
- From Newtownabbey, the wards of Jordanstown, Monkstown, and Rostulla
The constituency boundaries were amended again by the 2023 Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies, and first contested at the 2024 general election. It consists of:
- The District of Antrim and Newtownabbey wards of Abbey, Jordanstown, Monkstown, and Rostulla, the District of Causeway Coat and Glens ward of Lurigethan, and the District of Mid and East Antrim wards of Ballycarry and Glynn, Boneybefore, Burleigh Hill, Cairncastle, Carnlough and Glenarm, Castle, Craigyhill, Curran and Inver, Gardenmore, Glenravel, Glenwhirry, Glenwhirry, Gortalee, Greenisland, Islandmagee, Kilroot, Kilwaughter, Love Lane, Slemish, Slemish, Sunnylands, The Maidens, Victoria, Whitehead South, and Woodburn.
Members of Parliament
The Member of Parliament since the 2005 general election is Sammy Wilson of the Democratic Unionist Party. In that election he defeated Roy Beggs of the Ulster Unionist Party, who had sat for the seat since it was created at the 1983 general election.
| Election | Member<ref name="rayment">Template:Rayment-hc</ref> | Party | |
|---|---|---|---|
| style="color:inherit;background-color: Template:Party color" | | 1885 | James McCalmont | Irish Conservative |
| style="color:inherit;background-color: Template:Party color" | | 1913 | Robert McCalmont | Irish Unionist |
| style="color:inherit;background-color: Template:Party color" | | 1919 | George Hanna | Independent Unionist |
| 1922 | constituency abolished | ||
| 1983 | constituency recreated | ||
| style="color:inherit;background-color: Template:Party color" | | 1983 | Roy Beggs | Ulster Unionist |
| style="color:inherit;background-color: Template:Party color" | | 2005 | Sammy Wilson | Democratic Unionist |
Election results
Elections in the 2020s
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Elections in the 2010s
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Elections in the 2000s
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Elections in the 1990s
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Elections in the 1980s
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Elections in the 1910s
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Elections in the 1900s
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Elections in the 1890s
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Elections in the 1880s
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See also
References
Bibliography
External links
- 2017 Election House of Commons Library 2017 Election report
- A Vision Of Britain Through Time (Constituency elector numbers)
- East Antrim UK Parliament constituency (boundaries April 2010 – May 2024) at MapIt UK
- East Antrim UK Parliament constituency (boundaries from June 2024) at MapIt UK
Template:Current Westminster constituencies in Northern Ireland Template:County Antrim constituencies Template:Authority control
- Pages with broken file links
- Politics of County Antrim
- Westminster constituencies in County Antrim (historic)
- Dáil constituencies in Northern Ireland (historic)
- Constituencies of the Parliament of the United Kingdom established in 1885
- Constituencies of the Parliament of the United Kingdom disestablished in 1922
- Constituencies of the Parliament of the United Kingdom established in 1983
- Westminster Parliamentary constituencies in Northern Ireland