Foyle (UK Parliament constituency)

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For other constituencies of the same name, see Foyle.

Foyle County constituency
Foyle shown within Northern Ireland
Created:	1983
MP:	Mark Durkan
Party:	Social Democratic and Labour
Type:	House of Commons
Districts:	Derry
EP constituency:	Northern Ireland

Foyle is a Parliamentary Constituency in the British House of Commons.

Contents 1 Boundaries 1.1 Proposed boundary changes 2 History 3 Members of Parliament 4 Elections 5 See also

[edit] Boundaries

The seat was created 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 the old Londonderry constituency. Since further revisions in 1995 (when it lost parts of the district of Strabane to the West Tyrone constituency) it now covers exactly the same area as Derry city.

The name comes from the River Foyle which the city lies on and is used to avoid the contentious names of Derry or Londonderry, as well as to cover the areas of County Tyrone that were originally in the constituency.

[edit] Proposed boundary changes

As of 2004, the Boundary Commission has published provisional recommendations for modifying the boundaries of constituencies in Northern Ireland. It proposes to transfer two rural wards in Derry to the East Londonderry constituency. After the public enquiries, although some arguments were made for maintaining co-terminous boundaries with local government districts, the transfer of the wards to East Londonderry were approved by the assistant commissioner and are likely to be final recommendations.

[edit] History

For the history of the equivalent constituency prior to 1983, please see Londonderry (constituency).

The constituency is overwhelming nationalist and in many elections has often had the strongest vote for the Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) in the whole of Northern Ireland. Unionists of various parties routinely poll around 20%-25% in elections.

There had been much speculation that with the gradual retirement of John Hume from politics, the SDLP vote might collapse. In the 2003 Northern Ireland Assembly election, the SDLP lost 11.5% of the vote and were only narrowly ahead of Sinn Féin. Hume's retirement led to many questioning whether Mark Durkan, Hume's successor as leader, could hold onto the seat. However in the 2005 general election he did so. The decline in the Unionist vote suggests that some Unionist voters tactically voted for Durkan, however his lead was sufficient to have not been caused by this alone.

[edit] Members of Parliament

The Member of Parliament since the 2005 general election is Mark Durkan of the Social Democratic and Labour Party. He succeeded John Hume, also of the SDLP, who had represent the seat since 1983.

• Constituency created (1983)
• 1983 — 2005: John Hume, Social Democratic and Labour Party
• 2005 — present: Mark Durkan, Social Democratic and Labour Party

[edit] Elections

General Election 2005: Foyle
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Social Democratic and Labour	Mark Durkan	21,119	46.3	-3.9
	Sinn Féin	Mitchel McLaughlin	15,162	33.2	+6.6
	Democratic Unionist	William Hay	6,557	14.1	-0.8
	Socialist Environmental	Eamonn McCann	1,649	3.6	+3.6
	Ulster Unionist	Earl Storey	1,094	2.4	-4.5
	Rainbow Dream Ticket	Ben Reel	31	0.1	+0.1
Majority			5,957	13.1	-10.5
Turnout			45,609	65.9	-3.0
	Social Democratic and Labour hold		Swing	5.3

General Election 2001: Foyle
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Social Democratic and Labour	John Hume	24,538	50.2	-2.3
	Sinn Féin	Mitchel McLaughlin	12,988	26.6	+2.6
	Democratic Unionist	William Hay	7,414	15.2	-6.4
	Ulster Unionist	Andrew Davidson	3,360	6.9	N/A
	Alliance (NI)	Colm Kavanagh	579	1.2	-0.5
Majority			11,550	23.6
Turnout			48,879	68.9	-1.8
	Social Democratic and Labour hold		Swing

General Election 1997: Foyle
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Social Democratic and Labour	John Hume	25,109	52.5	+1.0
	Sinn Féin	Mitchel McLaughlin	11,445	23.9	+6.3
	Democratic Unionist	William Hay	10,290	21.5	-4.9
	Alliance (NI)	H. Bell	817	1.7	-1.0
	Natural Law	D. Brennan	154	0.3	-0.5
Majority			13,664
Turnout				70.7
	Social Democratic and Labour hold		Swing

General Election 1992: Foyle
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Social Democratic and Labour	John Hume	26,710	51.5
	Democratic Unionist	Gregory Campbell	13,705	26.4
	Sinn Féin	Martin McGuinness	9,149	17.6
	Alliance (NI)	Lara McIlroy	1,390	2.7
	Workers Party	Gordon McKenzie	514	1.0
	Natural Law	John Burns	422	0.8
Majority			13,005
Turnout				69.6
	Social Democratic and Labour hold		Swing

General Election 1987: Foyle
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Social Democratic and Labour	John Hume	23,743	48.8
	Democratic Unionist	Gregory Campbell	13,883	28.6
	Sinn Féin	Martin McGuinness	8,707	17.9
	Alliance (NI)	Elizabeth Zammitt	1,276	2.6
	Workers Party	Eamonn Melaugh	1,022	2.1
Majority			9,860	20.3
Turnout				69.0
	Social Democratic and Labour hold		Swing

General Election 1983: Foyle
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Social Democratic and Labour	John Hume	24,071	46.0
	Democratic Unionist	Gregory Campbell	15,923	30.5
	Sinn Féin	Martin McGuinness	10,607	20.3
	Alliance (NI)	Gerard O'Grady	1,108	2.1
	Workers Party	Eamonn Melaugh	582	1.1
Majority			8,148	15.6
Turnout				77.6
	Social Democratic and Labour hold		Swing

[edit] See also

• Foyle and City of Londonderry were neighbouring County Londonderry constituencies in the Northern Ireland Parliament from 1929 to 1973.
• Londonderry City was a borough constituency in the UK parliament from the Act of Union to 1922.

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)