Contents

List of parliamentary constituencies in Northern Ireland

Northern Ireland is divided into 18 parliamentary constituencies: 4 borough constituenciesinBelfast and 14 county constituencies elsewhere. Section 33 of the Northern Ireland Act 1998 provides that the constituencies for the Northern Ireland Assembly are the same as the constituencies that are used for the United Kingdom Parliament.^[1] Parliamentary constituencies are not used for local government, which is instead carried out by 11 district councils; these often have different boundaries.

Constituencies[edit]

Each constituency returns one Member of Parliament (MP) to the House of CommonsatWestminster and five Members of the Legislative Assembly (MLAs) to the devolved Northern Ireland Assembly at Stormont. Six MLAs were returned per constituency until the Assembly Members (Reduction of Numbers) Act (Northern Ireland) 2016 reduced the number to five, effective from the 2017 Assembly election.^[2]

2024 general election[edit]

  Democratic Unionist   Sinn Féin   Social Democratic and Labour   Ulster Unionist   Alliance Party   Traditional Unionist Voice

Name[nb 1]	Electorate[3]	Majority[nb 2]	Member of Parliament		Unionist %	Nationalist %[a]	Other %	Map
Belfast East BC	72,917	2,676		Gavin Robinson	55.4	1.4	43.2
Belfast North BC	74,240	5,612		John Finucane	36.9	49.5	13.6
Belfast South & Mid Down BC	74,749	12,506		Claire Hanna	27.0	49.1	23.9
Belfast West BC	75,346	15,961		Paul Maskey	17.1	78.8	4.2
East Antrim CC	73,302	1,306		Sammy Wilson	63.2	9.7	27.0
East Londonderry CC	75,707	179		Gregory Campbell	47.3	42.6	10.1
Fermanagh & South Tyrone CC	77,828	4,571		Pat Cullen	39.7	54.3	5.9
Foyle CC	73,496	4,166		Colum Eastwood	13.9	78.8	7.3
Lagan Valley CC	82,201	2,959		Sorcha Eastwood	59.1	2.1	38.8
Mid Ulster CC	74,000	14,923		Cathal Mallaghan	31.8	63.5	4.8
Newry & Armagh CC	78,244	15,493		Dáire Hughes	28.8	65.2	5.9
North Antrim CC	74,697	450		Jim Allister	65.0	23.8	11.2
North Down CC	73,885	7,305		Alex Easton	63.9[b]	1.5	34.6
South Antrim CC	77,058	7,512		Robin Swann	64.8	23.3	12.0
South Down CC	76,248	9,280		Chris Hazzard	23.6	68.3	8.0
Strangford CC	74,525	5,131		Jim Shannon	58.6	11.8	29.7
Upper Bann CC	81,249	7,406		Carla Lockhart	53.4	33.3	13.3
West Tyrone CC	74,269	15,917		Órfhlaith Begley	27.6	67.1	5.2

Historical representation by party[edit]

Where a cell is marked → (with a different colour of frame to the preceding cell) it indicates that the previous MP continued to sit under a new party affiliation. Changes are dated in the header row: either a general election (four-figure year, bold, link) or by-election or change in affiliation (two-figure year, italic, link or details appear on hover).

1801 to 1832 (22 MPs)[edit]

Antrim[edit]

  Tory   Whig

Londonderry[edit]

  Tory   Whig

* Sir George Hill, 2nd Baronet, was elected to sit as MP for both Coleraine and Londonderry City in the 1806 general election and chose to continue to sit for Londonderry City, hence the 1807 by-election, in which Walter Jones was restored to his seat.

Tyrone[edit]

  Tory   Whig   Independent

* At both the 1802 and 1806 elections, George Knox was returned for both Dungannon and Dublin University and chose to sit for the university seat.

Armagh[edit]

  Tory   Whig

* Charles Brownlow was initially elected as a Tory but at some point changed his affiliation to sit with the Whigs.

Down[edit]

  Tory   Whig

* The Parliaments of England by Henry Stooks Smith suggests that after the 1806 election there was a petition, which led to Edward Southwell Ruthven (Whig) being unseated and John Wilson Croker (Tory) being declared duly elected. Parliamentary Election Results in Ireland, 1801–1922, edited by BM Walker, does not make any reference to such a petition.

Fermanagh[edit]

  Tory

1832 to 1885 (29 MPs)[edit]

Antrim[edit]

  Conservative   Whig   Peelite   Liberal

Londonderry[edit]

  Conservative   Whig   Liberal

*unseated on petition

Tyrone[edit]

  Conservative   Peelite   Liberal

Armagh[edit]

  Conservative   Whig   Peelite   Liberal

Down[edit]

  Conservative   Whig   Peelite   Liberal

Fermanagh[edit]

  Conservative

1885 to 1918 (25 MPs)[edit]

Antrim[edit]

   Conservative Party    Irish Unionist    Russellite Unionist    Independent Unionist

Armagh[edit]

   Conservative Party    Irish Unionist    Irish Parliamentary Party (1885-90, 1900-22) / Irish National League (1890-1900)    Irish National Federation    Healyite Nationalist    Nationalist Party

Belfast[edit]

   Conservative Party    Irish Unionist    Independent Unionist    Liberal Unionist    Irish Parliamentary Party (1885-90, 1900-22) / Irish National League (1890-1900)    Irish National Federation    Nationalist Party    Labour Unionist

Down[edit]

   Conservative Party    Irish Unionist    Russellite Unionist    Irish Parliamentary Party (1885-90, 1900-22) / Irish National League (1890-1900)    Irish National Federation    Nationalist Party

Fermanagh[edit]

   Irish Unionist    Russellite Unionist    Irish Parliamentary Party (1885-90, 1900-22) / Irish National League (1890-1900)    Irish National Federation

Londonderry[edit]

   Conservative Party    Irish Unionist    Liberal Unionist    Liberal Party    Irish Parliamentary Party (1885-90, 1900-22) / Irish National League (1890-1900)    Irish National Federation

Tyrone[edit]

   Conservative Party    Irish Unionist    Russellite Unionist    Liberal Unionist    Liberal Party    Irish Parliamentary Party (1885-90, 1900-22) / Irish National League (1890-1900)    Irish National Federation    Nationalist Party

1918 to 1922 (30 MPs)[edit]

   Irish Unionist    Independent Unionist    Labour Unionist    Sinn Féin

1922 to 1950 (13 MPs)[edit]

  Ulster Unionist   Ulster Progressive Unionist   Independent Unionist   New Party   Northern Ireland Labour   Independent Labour   Federation of Labour   Irish Labour   Nationalist Party

1950 to 1983 (12 MPs)[edit]

Periodic boundary reviews commenced in 1947.^[4][5] The elections at which these were implemented are tagged with diamond suit characters, ♦.

The 1st Periodic Review boundary map can be viewed on the ARK elections website. Changes in the 2nd review were relatively minor.^[6]

Notes:

1. The constituency was won by Philip ClarkeofSinn Féin, but he was unseated on petition on the basis that his criminal conviction (for Irish Republican Army activity) made him ineligible. Instead, the seat was awarded to the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) candidate.
2. The seat was originally won by Tom MitchellofSinn Féin, but Mitchell was subsequently unseated upon petition, on the grounds that his terrorist convictions made him ineligible to sit in Parliament. The seat was awarded to Charles Beattie of the UUP. 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.
3. Original winner of the 1950 election in that seat, James Godfrey MacManaway (UUP), disqualified due to being a clergyman. Teevan won the subsequent by-election

1983 to present (17, then 18 MPs)[edit]

3rd and 4th Review boundary maps can be viewed on the ARK elections website: 1983, 1997.

  Alliance Party   Democratic Unionist   Independent   Sinn Féin   Social Democratic and Labour   Traditional Unionist Voice   UK Unionist Party   Ulster Popular Unionist   Ulster Unionist

¹Paisley Jr was suspended from the DUP between July and November 2018.

Seats by political alignment (1983–present)[edit]

Boundary changes[edit]

See 2023 Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies for further details.

Following the abandonment of the Sixth Periodic Review (the 2018 review), the Boundary Commission for Northern Ireland formally launched the 2023 Review on 5 January 2021. In accordance with the provisions of the Parliamentary Constituencies Act 2020, the number of constituencies allocated to Northern Ireland was unchanged, at 18.^[7] Initial proposals were published on 20 October 2021 and, following two periods of public consultation, revised proposals were published on 17 November 2022. Final recommendations were published on 28 June 2023.^[8]

Under the recommendations, the following constituencies for Northern Ireland would come into effect at the 2024 general election:^[9]

See also[edit]

• Politics of Northern Ireland

External links[edit]

• List of changes to constituency boundaries: section 6 of Parliamentary constituency boundaries: the Fifth Periodical Review House of Commons Library

References[edit]