South Belfast (UK Parliament constituency)
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| South Belfast in Northern Ireland |
South Belfast 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 1922 when as part of the establishement 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 south section of Belfast and also contains part of the district of Castlereagh.
Proposed Boundary changes
At the time of writing the Boundary Commission has proposed alterations for the boundaries of constituencies in Northern Ireland. South Belfast currently has one of the smallest electorates of any constituency in Northern Ireland. Some have suggested abolishing the seat and cutting Belfast down to three constituencies, but others have argued that the geography and natural ties in Belfast make this unweildy. The Boundary Commission proposals eschew this suggestion and instead propose to expand South Belfast further into Castlereagh, taking in areas currently contained in both Strangford and East Belfast.
The four wards which the Boundary Commission have proposed to add to the constituency from Castlereagh have almost exactly the same composition in terms of community background as the existing constituency.
Westminster elections
Member of Parliament
The Member of Parliament since the 2005 general election is Alasdair McDonnell of the Social Democratic and Labour Party. He succeded the Rev Martin Smyth of the Ulster Unionist Party, who had sat for the seat from a by-election in 1982 until retiring at the 2005 election.
Election results
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MPs since 1922
- 1922 - 1929 Thomas Moles Ulster Unionist Party
- 1929 - 1945 W.J. Stewart Ulster Unionist Party
- 1945 - 1952 C.H. Gage Ulster Unionist Party
- 1952 by-election - 1963 Sir David Campbell
- 1963 by-election - 1974 Rafton Pounder Ulster Unionist Party
- 1974 - 1981 (death) Robert Bradford Vanguard Progressive Unionist Party (1974-1977), Ulster Unionist Party (1977-1981)
- 1982 (by-election) - 2005 Martin Smyth Ulster Unionist Party
- 2005 - present Alasdair McDonnell Social Democratic and Labour Party
Assemblies and Forum elections
The six MLAs for the constituency elected in the 2003 election are:
- Esmond Birnie Ulster Unionist Party
- Carmel Hanna Social Democratic and Labour Party
- Alex Maskey Sinn Fein
- Alasdair McDonnell Social Democratic and Labour Party
- Michael McGimpsey Ulster Unionist Party
- Mark Robinson Democratic Unionist Party
In the 1998 election the six MLAs elected were:
- Esmond Birnie Ulster Unionist Party
- Carmel Hanna Social Democratic and Labour Party
- Alasdair McDonnell Social Democratic and Labour Party
- Michael McGimpsey Ulster Unionist Party
- Monica McWilliams Northern Ireland Women's Coalition
- Mark Robinson Democratic Unionist Party
In the 1996 election to the Northern Ireland Peace Forum, 5 Forum members were elected from North Belfast. They were as follows:
- James Clarke Ulster Unionist Party
- Steve McBride Alliance Party of Northern Ireland
- Alasdair McDonnell Social Democratic and Labour Party
- Joan Parkes Democratic Unionist Party
- Robert Stoker Ulster Unionist Party
In 1982 elections were held for an Assembly for Northern Ireland to hold the Secretary of State to account, in the hope that this would be the first step towards restoring devolution. South Belfast elected 5 members as follows:
- David Cook Alliance Party of Northern Ireland
- Edgar Graham Ulster Unionist Party
- Thomas Kirkpatrick Ulster Unionist Party
- Raymond McCrea Democratic Unionist Party
- Martin Smyth Ulster Unionist Party
- Edgar Graham Ulster Unionist Party assassinated by the IRA on December 7 1983. Frank Millar, also Ulster Unionist Party elected unopposed in by-election on March 1 1984.
In 1975 elections were held to a Constitutional Convention which sought (unsuccessfully) to generate a consensus on the future of the province. The six members elected from South Belfast were:
- Jeremy Burchill Ulster Unionist Party
- Thomas Burns Democratic Unionist Party
- Basil Glass Alliance Party of Northern Ireland
- Jim Hendron Alliance Party of Northern Ireland
- Martin Smyth Ulster Unionist Party
- David Trimble Vanguard Progressive Unionist Party
In 1973 elections were held to the Assembly set up under the Sunningdale Agreement. The six members elected from North Belfast were:
- Thomas Burns Democratic Unionist Party
- Nelson Elder Ulster Unionist Party pro Sunningdale
- Basil Glass Alliance Party of Northern Ireland
- Herbert Kirk Ulster Unionist Party pro Sunningdale
- Reginald Magee Ulster Unionist Party pro Sunningdale
- Basil McIvor Ulster Unionist Party pro Sunningdale
Politics and History of the constituency
South Belfast, centred on the River Lagan contains some of Belfast’s most exclusive residential districts as well as the Queen's University of Belfast, and the overall tenor of the constituency is middle-class – young, trendy and cosmopolitan towards the City Centre, with Northern Ireland’s biggest concentrations of both students and ethnic minorities, and settled and prosperous further out. Despite this, significant pockets of inner-City deprivation and a number of isolated suburban estates are in the constituency.
There has been particularly rapid demographic change in South Belfast over the past 20 years, change which seems to be continuing rapidly.
South Belfast has a unionist majority though the nationalist vote is considerable. There have also been strong votes for non-sectarian parties such as the Alliance Party of Northern Ireland, the Conservatives and the Northern Ireland Women's Coalition. The seat has also seen a steady series of candidates backed by groups who aspire to support the British Labour Party despite its prior ban on membership and organisation in Northern Ireland, though their results have been minimal. Since its inception the main focus of attention has been on contests between unionist candidates.
In the February 1974 general election the seat was won by Robert Bradford of the Vanguard Progressive Unionist Party on a united anti-Sunningdale Agreement slate with the Ulster Unionist Party and the Democratic Unionist Party. He defeated Rafton Pounder, the sitting Unionist MP who defended his seat as a Pro-Assembly Unionist. Bradford held the seat for the next seven years, though in (1977) he and the rump of Vanguard reunited with the Ulster Unionists. At the end of 1981 Bradford was assassinated by the IRA.
The subsequent by-election garnered much interest as it was expected that the Democratic Unionist Party would take the seat, building on their steady rise which had seen them gain both North Belfast and East Belfast at the previous general election. However in the event the DUP came third, behind the Alliance Party of Northern Ireland and the UUP's candidate, Martin Smyth won the seat, holding it ever since.
In the 2001 general election less than 50% of voters voted for Unionist parties for the first time in its history, but this has been attributed to a collapse in the vote for the small Progressive Unionist Party as well as to Smyth's fierce opposition to the Good Friday Agreement which is estimated to have sent many pro Agreement Unionist voters to tactically vote for the Social Democratic and Labour Party.
In January 2005 Smyth announced that he would be retiring at the forthcoming general election, raising speculation both as to whom the Ulster Unionists would field in succession to him and what effect a different candidate will have upon their share of the vote. The UUP selected Assembly member Michael McGimpsey, albeit with a highly controversial and bitter selection. The aftermath saw McGimpsey repudiated by many prominent local and national Ulster Unionists, including both Smyth and former UUP leader James Molyneaux. The DUP selected Jimmy Spratt and offered an electoral pact to the UUP that would give each party a free run at one out of South Belfast and Fermanagh and South Tyrone. This offer was rejected by the UUP.
In the event, the DUP and UUP both fielded candidates which split the vote, while the Nationalist vote mainly went for the SDLP over Sinn Féin, with the result that the SDLP took the seat despite a majority of votes cast for Unionist candidates.