Belfast East (UK Parliament constituency)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

For other constituencies of the same name, see Belfast East.

Belfast East Borough constituency
Belfast East shown within Northern Ireland
Created:	1885, 1922
MP:	Peter Robinson
Party:	Democratic Unionist
Type:	House of Commons
Districts:	Belfast, Castlereagh
EP constituency:	Northern Ireland

Belfast East is a Parliamentary Constituency in the United Kingdom House of Commons. It has always elected various brands of Unionist MPs.

Contents 1 Boundaries 1.1 Proposed Boundary changes 2 History 3 Members of Parliament 4 Elections 4.1 Elections in the 2000s 4.2 Elections in the 1990s 4.3 Elections in the 1980s 4.4 Elections in the 1970s 4.5 Elections in the 1960s 4.6 Elections in the 1950s 4.7 Elections in the 1940s 4.8 Elections in the 1930s 4.9 Elections in the 1920s 5 Sources 6 See also

[edit] Boundaries

The seat was created in 1922 when, as part of the establishment of the devolved Stormont Parliament for Northern Ireland, the number of MPs in the Westminster Parliament was drastically cut. The seat is centred on the east section of Belfast and also contains part of the district of Castlereagh.

[edit] Proposed Boundary changes

At the time of writing the Boundary Commission has proposed alterations for the boundaries of constituencies in Northern Ireland. It is proposed to expand Belfast East further into Castlereagh, taking in areas currently contained in Strangford, however almost all of these areas were part of Belfast East until 1983. A small part of the constituency has been proposed for transfer to Belfast South.

At the boundary commission local enquiry which took place in September 2005 the proposal to add the ward of Cregagh to South Belfast proved hugely controversial, being strongly opposed by the DUP but supported by the Ulster Unionists. It was also one of the issues which generated the most negative comments in the written submissions with a petition representing half of Cregagh's residents opposing its move for example.

Alliance put forth two proposals: one for a three seat Belfast which would abolish this seat and a four seat solution in which Hillfoot and Moneyreagh would join S.Belfast instead of Cregagh/Wynchurch. They were supported on the latter issue by the DUP. The SDLP and Sinn Féin were generally supportive of the commissions proposals, although Sinn Féin in their written representation suggested moving Ballymaccarrett ward from East to South Belfast.

The Commission's revised recommendations, published in May 2006, have maintained Cregagh ward in East Belfast. Hillfoot and Wynchurch are to be transferred to South Belfast with the 5 wards around Dundonald joining East Belfast. As revised recommendations are rarely changed it is likely that these boundaries will be the final recommendations.

[edit] History

Belfast East is an overwhelmingly unionist constituency with nationalist parties routinely failing to get more than 10% of the vote combined. The main interest has been the contest between unionist parties and the fortunes of the Alliance Party of Northern Ireland.

Dominated by the giant Samson and Goliath cranes of the Harland and Wolff shipyard, the constituency is socially mixed. There are large expanses of small Victorian terraced housing near Belfast City Centre and around the shipyard in Ballymacarrett. These areas have seen significant refurbishment, and in some places demolition and redevelopment, in recent years sparking a sharp rise in house prices. This is contrasted by a large amount of solidly lower-middle class housing and some exclusive residential districts such as the much mocked Cherryvalley. This social polarisation is to a large degree reflected by the political polarisation, at least within the broader unionist family, in the seat. The small Catholic population is split between the Short Strand enclave and minorities in the more middle-class parts of the seat.

The seat was consistently held by the Ulster Unionist Party until the 1974 general election when the sitting MP, Stanley McMaster, defended it as a Pro-Assembly Unionist against a united anti-Sunningdale Agreement coalition which nominated William Craig of the Vanguard Progressive Unionist Party. Craig won the seat and held it for five years, moving to the UUP in February 1978.

In the 1979 general election the constituency witnessed a very close three way fight between Peter Robinson of the Democratic Unionist Party, William Craig for the UUP and Oliver Napier for the Alliance Party of Northern Ireland. Less than 1000 votes separated the three candidates - the closest the Alliance has ever come to winning a Westminster seat. Robinson beat Craig by the narrow margin of 64 votes. Also of note was that over 90% of the votes cast went to parties that had not contested the seat at the previous election - in part due to realignments of the parties.

Robinson has held the seat ever since but the Alliance Party of Northern Ireland continued to poll well thereafter, and in 1987 John Alderdice polled 32.1% of the vote - the highest ever for the Alliance in a Westminster election. However in recent years their vote has declined and in 2005 they finished a distant third.

In the 2001 Alliance proposed a pro-Good Friday Agreement pact with the Ulster Unionist Party in the hopes of getting UUP support in Belfast East. However the UUP did not agree and so both parties stood. Robinson was re-elected with 42.5% of the vote, with the UUP, Alliance and Progressive Unionist Party carving up the pro-Agreement pro-union vote between them, but it is doubtful that an unopposed Alliance candidate could have consolidated all of that vote to beat Robinson. With the subsequent decline of all three parties, the DUP look likely to retain the seat for the foreseeable future.

Of all eighteen constituencies in Northern Ireland, East Belfast has the highest percentage of Methodists.

[edit] Members of Parliament

The Member of Parliament since the 1979 general election is Peter Robinson of the Democratic Unionist Party. He defeated William Craig who sat for the Vanguard Progressive Unionist Party from the February 1974 general election until 1978 then for the Ulster Unionist Party from 1978 until the 1979 election.

Year	Member	Party
1885	Edward Samuel Wesley de Cobain	Conservative
1892	Gustav Wilhelm Wolff	Conservative
1910	Robert James McMordie	Ulster Unionist
1914	Robert Gordon Sharman-Crawford	Ulster Unionist
Abolished 1918; revived 1922
1922	Herbert Dixon	Ulster Unionist
1940	H.P. Harland	Ulster Unionist
1945	T.L. Cole	Ulster Unionist
1950	Alan McKibbin	Ulster Unionist
1959	Stanley McMaster	Ulster Unionist
1974	William Craig	Vanguard Progressive Unionist 1974 - 1978 Ulster Unionist 1978 - 1979
1979	Peter Robinson	Democratic Unionist

[edit] Elections

[edit] Elections in the 2000s

General Election 2005: Belfast East
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Democratic Unionist	Peter Robinson	15,152	49.1	+6.6
	Ulster Unionist	Reg Empey	9,275	30.1	+6.9
	Alliance (NI)	Naomi Long	3,746	12.2	-3.6
	Sinn Féin	Deborah Devenny	1,029	3.3	-0.1
	Social Democratic and Labour	Mary Muldoon	844	2.7	+0.3
	Conservative	Alan Greer	434	1.4	-0.8
	Workers Party	Joe Bell	179	0.6	+0.3
	Rainbow Dream Ticket	Lynda Gilby	172	0.6	+0.4
Majority			5,877	19.1
Turnout			30,831	58.0	-5.0
	Democratic Unionist hold		Swing

General Election 2001: Belfast East
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Democratic Unionist	Peter Robinson	15,667	42.5	-0.1
	Ulster Unionist	Tim Lemon	8,550	23.2	-2.1
	Alliance (NI)	David Alderdice	5,832	15.8	-8.0
	Progressive Unionist	David Ervine	3,669	10.0	N/A
	Sinn Féin	Joe O'Donnell	1,237	3.4	+1.3
	Social Democratic and Labour	Ciara Farren	880	2.4	+0.8
	Conservative	Terry Dick	800	2.2	-0.2
	Workers Party	Joe Bell	123	0.3	N/A
	Vote For Yourself	Rainbow George Weiss	71	0.2	N/A
Majority			7,117	19.3
Turnout			36,829	63.0	-0.2
	Democratic Unionist hold		Swing

[edit] Elections in the 1990s

General Election 1997: Belfast East
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Democratic Unionist	Peter Robinson	16,640	42.6
	Ulster Unionist	Reg Empey	9,886	25.3
	Alliance (NI)	Jim Hendron	9,288	23.8
	Conservative	S. Dines	928	2.4
	Sinn Féin	D. Corr	810	2.1
	Social Democratic and Labour	P. Lewsley	629	1.6
	Former Captain NI Football Team	Derek Dougan	541	1.4
	Workers Party	Joe Bell	237	0.6
	Natural Law	D. Collins	70	0.2
Majority			6,754
Turnout				63.2
	Democratic Unionist hold		Swing

General Election 1992: Belfast East
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Democratic Unionist	Peter Robinson	18,437	51.5
	Alliance (NI)	John Alderdice	10,650	29.8
	Conservative	David Greene	3,314	9.3
	Independent Ulster Unionist	Dorothy Dunlop	2,256	6.3
	Sinn Féin	Joe O'Donnell	679	1.9
	Workers Party	Joe Bell	327	0.9
	Natural Law	G. Redden	128	0.4
Majority			7,787
Turnout				67.7
	Democratic Unionist hold		Swing

[edit] Elections in the 1980s

General Election 1987: Belfast East
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Democratic Unionist	Peter Robinson	20,372	61.9
	Alliance (NI)	John Alderdice	10,574	32.1
	Workers Party	Frank Cullen	1,314	4.0
	Sinn Féin	Joe O'Donnell	649	2.0
Majority			9,798	29.8
Turnout				60.2
	Democratic Unionist hold		Swing

Belfast East by-election, 1986
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Democratic Unionist	Peter Robinson	27,607
	Alliance (NI)	Oliver Napier	5,917
	Workers Party	Frank Cullen	578
Majority			21,690
Turnout				60.2
	Democratic Unionist hold		Swing

Note: The by-election was caused by the decision of all Unionist MPs to resign their seats and seek re-election on a platform of opposition to the Anglo-Irish Agreement.

General Election 1983: Belfast East
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Democratic Unionist	Peter Robinson	17,631	45.3
	Ulster Unionist	Jeremy Burchill	9,642	24.8
	Alliance (NI)	Oliver Napier	9,373	24.1
	Sinn Féin	Denis Donaldson	682	1.8
	Labour and Trade Union	Muriel Tang	584	1.5
	Social Democratic and Labour	P. Prendiville	519	1.3
	Workers Party	Frank Cullen	421	1.1
	New Agenda	H. Boyd	59	0.2
Majority			7,989	20.5
Turnout				70.0
	Democratic Unionist hold		Swing

[edit] Elections in the 1970s

General Election 1979: Belfast East
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Democratic Unionist	Peter Robinson	15,994	31.4
	Ulster Unionist	William Craig	15,930	31.2
	Alliance (NI)	Oliver Napier	15,066	29.6
	Unionist Party NI	N. Agnew	2,017	4.0
	Labour (NI)	G. Chambers	1,982	3.9
Majority			64	0.1
Turnout				67.6
	Democratic Unionist gain from Vanguard Progressive Unionist		Swing

General Election October 1974: Belfast East
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Vanguard Progressive Unionist	William Craig	31,594	59.1
	Unionist Party NI	P. J. McLachlan	14,417	27.0
	Labour (NI)	David Bleakley	7,415	13.9
Majority			17,177	32.2
Turnout				67.1
	Vanguard Progressive Unionist hold		Swing

General Election February 1974: Belfast East
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Vanguard Progressive Unionist	William Craig	27,817	48.4
	Pro-Assembly Unionist	Stanley McMaster	20,077	34.9
	Labour (NI)	David Bleakley	8,122	14.1
	Social Democratic and Labour	D. Gillespie	1,502	2.6
Majority			7,740	13.5
Turnout				71.9
	Vanguard Progressive Unionist gain from Ulster Unionist		Swing

General Election 1970: Belfast East
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Ulster Unionist	Stanley McMaster	26,778	59.5
	Labour (NI)	David Bleakley	18,259	40.5
Majority			8,519	18.9
Turnout				75.6
	Ulster Unionist hold		Swing

[edit] Elections in the 1960s

General Election 1966: Belfast East
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Ulster Unionist	Stanley McMaster	21,283	54.7
	Labour (NI)	M. McBirney	17,650	45.3
Majority			3,633	9.3
Turnout				68.2
	Ulster Unionist hold		Swing

General Election 1964: Belfast East
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Ulster Unionist	Stanley McMaster	24,804	58.8
	Labour (NI)	S. J. Watt	15,555	36.9
	Independent Republican	D. McConnell	1,827	4.3
Majority			9,249	21.9
Turnout				72.5
	Ulster Unionist hold		Swing

[edit] Elections in the 1950s

General Election 1959: Belfast East
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Ulster Unionist	Stanley McMaster	26,510	60.1
	Labour (NI)	J. S. Gardner	16,412	37.2
	Sinn Féin	B. Boswell	1,204	2.7
Majority			9,249	21.9
Turnout				90.7
	Ulster Unionist hold		Swing

Belfast East by-election, 1959
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Ulster Unionist	Stanley McMaster	19,524
	Labour (NI)	J. S. Gardner	14,264
Majority			5,260
Turnout
	Ulster Unionist hold		Swing

General Election 1955: Belfast East
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Ulster Unionist	Alan McKibbin	26,938	62.5
	Labour (NI)	Tom Boyd	13,041	30.2
	Sinn Féin	L. Mulcahy	3,156	7.3
Majority			13,897	32.2
Turnout				70.4
	Ulster Unionist hold		Swing

General Election 1951: Belfast East
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Ulster Unionist	Alan McKibbin	28,881	61.7
	Labour (NI)	Tom Boyd	17,910	38.3
Majority			10,971	23.5
Turnout				74.5
	Ulster Unionist hold		Swing

General Election 1950: Belfast East
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Ulster Unionist	Alan McKibbin	29,844	63.3
	Labour (NI)	Tom Boyd	17,338	36.7
Majority			12,506	26.6
Turnout				76.6
	Ulster Unionist hold		Swing

[edit] Elections in the 1940s

General Election 1945: Belfast East
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Ulster Unionist	Thomas Cole	21,443	56.4	N/A
	Labour (NI)	Tom Boyd	17,338	43.6	N/A
Majority			4,869	12.8	N/A
Turnout			38,017	63.2	N/A
	Ulster Unionist hold		Swing	N/A

In the Belfast East by-election, 1940, H. P. Harland was elected unopposed.

[edit] Elections in the 1930s

In the 1935 UK general election, Herbert Dixon was elected unopposed.

General Election 1931: Belfast East
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Ulster Unionist	Herbert Dixon	28,431	75.1	0.0
	Labour (NI)	John Campbell	9,410	24.9	N/A
Majority			19,021	50.3	+ 0.1
Turnout			37,841	66.2	+ 0.5
	Ulster Unionist hold		Swing

[edit] Elections in the 1920s

General Election 1929: Belfast East
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Ulster Unionist	Herbert Dixon	27,855	75.1	N/A
	Liberal	Denis Ireland	9,230	24.9	N/A
Majority			18,625	50.2	N/A
Turnout			37,085	65.7	N/A
	Ulster Unionist hold		Swing	N/A

In the 1922, 1923 and 1924 UK general elections, Herbert Dixon was elected unopposed.

[edit] Sources

• BBC News, Election 2005
• BBC News, Vote 2001
• Guardian Unlimited Politics
• Leigh Rayment's Peerage Page
• http://www.psr.keele.ac.uk/ (Election results from 1951 to the present)

[edit] See also

• List of Parliamentary constituencies in Northern Ireland

Constituencies in Northern Ireland
DUP	Belfast East | Belfast North | East Antrim | East Londonderry | Lagan Valley | North Antrim | South Antrim | Strangford | Upper Bann
Sinn Féin	Belfast West | Fermanagh and South Tyrone | Mid Ulster | Newry and Armagh | West Tyrone
SDLP	Belfast South | Foyle | South Down
UUP	North Down
Northern Ireland European constituency: DUP (1) | Sinn Féin (1) | UUP (1)