East Antrim (UK Parliament constituency)
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| East Antrim in Northern Ireland |
East Antrim is a Parliamentary Constituency in the House of Commons and also an Assembly constituency in the Northern Ireland Assembly.
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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 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 entirity of the districts of Larne and Carrickfergus, as well as party of Newtownabbey.
Proposed Boundary changes
At the time of writing the Boundary Commission has published provisional recommendations for modifying the boundaries of constituencies in Northern Ireland. Two significant changes have been proposed for East Antrim. In the south of the constituency it is proposed to transfer a further part of Newtownabbey to the North Belfast constituency whilst in the north the seat would gain the Glens in Moyle district from North Antrim. East Antrim would be renamed Antrim Coast & Glens. However this latter part of the proposal has 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). Furthermore some commentators feel that such a long coastal seat is too sprawling and lacking in natural ties. The changes will be subject to a series of consultations and it remains to be seen whether these proposals will be upheld. If not then it is likely that some other changes will be performed.
Westminster elections
Member 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 results
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Assembly and Forum elections
The six MLAs for the constituency elected in the 2003 election are:
- Roy Beggs Jnr. Ulster Unionist Party
- George Dawson Democratic Unionist Party
- David Hilditch Democratic Unionist Party
- Séan Neeson Alliance Party of Northern Ireland
- Ken Robinson Ulster Unionist Party
- Sammy Wilson Democratic Unionist Party
In the 1998 election the six MLAs elected were:
- Roy Beggs Jnr. Ulster Unionist Party
- David Hilditch Democratic Unionist Party
- Roger Hutchinson UK Unionist Party
- Séan Neeson Alliance Party of Northern Ireland
- Danny O'Connor Social Democratic and Labour Party
- Ken Robinson Ulster Unionist Party
- Roger Hutchinson resigned from the UK Unionist Party and, together with other UKUP Assembly Members, formed the Northern Ireland Unionist Party on January 5 1999
- Roger Hutchinson lost the Northern Ireland Unionist Party whip and sat as an independent unionist from November 30 1999.
- Roger Hutchinson joined the Democratic Unionist Party on November 16 2000.
- Roger Hutchinson left the Democratic Unionist Party and contested the 2003 election as an independent unionist.
In the 1996 election to the Northern Ireland Peace Forum, 5 Forum members were elected from East Antrim. They were as follows:
- May Beattie Democratic Unionist Party
- Jack McKee Democratic Unionist Party
- Séan Neeson Alliance Party of Northern Ireland
- Mary Steele Ulster Unionist Party
- Thomas Robinson Ulster Unionist Party
Politics and History of the constituency
For the history of the equivalent constituencies prior to 1950 please see Antrim (constituency) and from 1950 until 1983, please see North Antrim (constituency) and South Antrim (constituency).
The constituency is overwhelming 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.
The main interest in 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.