Upper Bann (UK Parliament constituency)
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| Upper Bann in Northern Ireland |
Upper Bann 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 Armagh and South Down. It was barely changed in further revisions in 1995 and covers the entirity of the district of Craigavon as well as part of Banbridge.
Proposed Boundary changes
At the time of writing the Boundary Commission has published provisional recommendations for modifying the boundaries of constituencies in Northern Ireland. It is proposed to transfer two small parts of Upper Bann to South Down and Lagan Valley. The changes will be subject to a series of consultations and it remains to be seen whether these proposals will be upheld.
Westminster elections
Member of Parliament
The Member of Parliament since the 2005 general election is David Simpson of the Democratic Unionist Party. In that election he defeated David Trimble of the Ulster Unionist Party who had held the seat since a 1990 by-election.
Election results
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MPs since 1983
- 1983 - 1990 (death) Harold McCusker Ulster Unionist Party
- 1990 (by-election) - 2005 David Trimble Ulster Unionist Party
- 2005 - present David Simpson Democratic Unionist Party
Assembly and Forum elections
The six MLAs for the constituency elected in the 2003 election are:
- Samuel Gardiner Ulster Unionist Party
- Dolores Kelly Social Democratic and Labour Party
- Stephen Moutray Democratic Unionist Party
- John O'Dowd Sinn Fein
- David Trimble Ulster Unionist Party
- David Simpson Democratic Unionist Party
In the 1998 election the six MLAs elected were:
- Mervyn Carrick Democratic Unionist Party
- Dara O'Hagan Sinn Fein
- Brid Rodgers Social Democratic and Labour Party
- George Savage Ulster Unionist Party
- David Trimble Ulster Unionist Party
- Denis Watson Independent Unionist
- Denis Watson joined with other independent Unionists to form the United Unionist Coalition on September 14, 1998.
- At some point in early 2000 Denis Watson left the United Unionist Coalition and joined the Democratic Unionist Party
In the 1996 election to the Northern Ireland Peace Forum, 5 Forum members were elected from Upper Bann. They were as follows:
- Mervyn Carrick Democratic Unionist Party
- Samuel Gardiner Ulster Unionist Party
- Michelle O'Connor Sinn Fein
- Brid Rodgers Social Democratic and Labour Party
- David Trimble Ulster Unionist Party
Politics and History of the constituency
For the history of the equivalent constituencies prior to 1950 please see Armagh (constituency) and Down (constituency) and from 1950 until 1983, please see also South Down (constituency).
The constituency is overwhelming unionist, though the combined votes for nationalist parties have reached around 35% in elections. The Ulster Unionist Party has traditionally been dominant though it was come under serious challenge from the Democratic Unionist Party in recent years. The constituency contains Portadown and Dumcree, key locations for the Orange Order and elections to both local councils and the Northern Ireland Assembly have seen independent candidates standing on issues related to Orange Order parades performing well.
In 1990 the sitting MP, Harold McCusker, died and the subsequent by-election was noticeable as for the first time since the early 1970s two major UK political parties stood in a Northern Ireland parliamentary election, the Conservatives and the rump of the Social Democratic Party. However the result was disappointing the Conservatives, whilst the SDP polled a mere 154 votes and soon folded. In that by-election David Trimble was elected and five years later he became leader of the Ulster Unionist Party. Trimble's leadership has come in for much criticism from the rival Democratic Unionist Party and they have strongly targeted the area.
In the 2001 there was a strong rumour that the DUP leader Ian Paisley would contest the seat himself, in the hope of unseating Trimble, but in the event he stayed in his North Antrim constituency and the DUP instead nominated David Simpson. The campaign was amongst the most bitter in the entire province, with Trimble coming in for fierce personal attacks. He benefitted, however, from the decision of the Alliance Party of Northern Ireland to not contest the seat themselves but instead support them. When the results were counted Simpson was initially ahead and many believed he had won, but Trimble pulled ahead to hold the seat on a narrow majority of 2058.
In the subsequent 2003 assembly election the DUP were only 386 votes behind the UUP. Then in the 2005 general election Trimble was defeated by Simpson.