Mid Ulster (UK Parliament constituency)

For other constituencies of the same name, see Mid Ulster.

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Mid Ulster is a Parliamentary Constituency in the British House of Commons.

Boundaries

The seat was created in 1950 when the old Fermanagh and Tyrone two-member constituency was abolished as part of the final move to single member seats. Originally the seat primarily consisted of the northern, eastern and western parts of County Tyrone, with the south included in Fermanagh & South Tyrone. Of the post 1973 districts, it contained all of Omagh and Cookstown and part of Strabane and Magherafelt.

In boundary changes proposed by a review in 1995, the seat was split in two, with the name retained by the eastern half, even though it contained only 30% of the old seat. The western half became the nucleus of the new West Tyrone constituency. The new Mid Ulster also gained areas from East Londonderry and Fermanagh and South Tyrone, taking it deeper into County Londonderry.

Following their most recent review of parliamentary boundaries in Northern Ireland, the Boundary Commission have made no changes to Mid Ulster. The electoral areas are confirmed as below, through the passing of the Northern Ireland Parliamentary Constituencies Order in 2008.

• The entire districts of Cookstown, and Magherafelt
• From Dungannon and South Tyrone district; Altmore, Coalisland North, Coalisland South, Coalisland West and Newmills, Donaghmore, and Washing Bay

History

For the history of the constituency prior to 1950, see Fermanagh and Tyrone (UK Parliament constituency).

In both its incarnations, Mid Ulster has seen a precarious balance between unionist and nationalist voters, though in recent years the nationalists have advanced significantly to be in a clear majority. Many elections have seen a candidate from one community triumph due to candidates from the other community splitting the vote.

The seat was initially won by the Irish Nationalist Party in 1950 and 1951 then by Sinn Féin in 1955. However the Sinn Féin Member of Parliament (MP) was unseated on petition on the basis that his Irish Republican Army (IRA) convictions made him ineligible, and in subsequent by-elections the seat was won by the Ulster Unionists.

In a by-election in 1969, the seat was won by Bernadette Devlin standing as an independent socialist nationalist on the "Unity" ticket which sought to unite nationalist voters behind a single candidate. At the age of 21, Devlin was the youngest person ever elected to the House of Commons in the era of universal suffrage. The by-election saw a 91.5% turnout, a record for any UK by-election.

Devlin held her seat in the 1970 but generated controversy when she had a child out of wedlock as well as for her fierce anti-clericalism. This may have contributed to the Social Democratic and Labour Party standing a candidate against her in the February 1974 general election and the nationalist vote was strongly divided, allowing John Dunlop of the Vanguard Progressive Unionist Party to win with the support of the Ulster Unionist Party and the Democratic Unionist Party.

Dunlop held his seat for the next nine years, though in 1975 he was part of a large section of Vanguard that broke away to form the short lived United Ulster Unionist Party. He held his seat in 1979 only due to a Unionist pact. He polled poorly in the 1982 Assembly election taking a dismal 2.8% of the vote. Consequently, in 1983 he did not stand again and the following year the UUUP was wound up.

The 1983 general election saw fierce contest for the seat, with the Ulster Unionist Party, Democratic Unionist Party, Social Democratic and Labour Party and Sinn Féin all polling strongly. The winner was the DUP's William McCrea, albeit by the narrow majority of just 78 over Sinn Féin. In general elections from then to 2005 the Ulster Unionists did not contest the seat.

Following the boundary changes, McCrea contested the new Mid Ulster in 1997 but by now Sinn Féin had established itself as the best party to outpoll a unionist and so drew votes from the SDLP, resulting in Martin McGuinness winning. He has held the seat to date.

Members of Parliament

The Member of Parliament since the 1997 general election is Martin McGuinness of Sinn Féin. Between 1983 and 1997 the MP was William McCrea of the Democratic Unionist Party.

• Constituency created (1950)
• 1950 — 1951 Anthony Mulvey, Nationalist
• 1951 — 1955 Michael O'Neill, Nationalist
• 1955: Tom Mitchell, Sinn Féin - subsequently unseated on petition
• 1955 (by-election) — 1956: Charles Beattie, Ulster Unionist - election subsequently declared invalid by House of Commons Select Committee
• 1956 (by-election) — 1969: George Forrest, Independent Unionist (on election) then Ulster Unionist
• 1969 (by-election) — 1974: Bernadette Devlin, Independent Socialist & Nationalist on "Unity" ticket
• 1974 — 1983: John Dunlop, Vanguard Progressive Unionist until 1977, then United Ulster Unionist
• 1983 — 1997: William McCrea, Democratic Unionist
• 1997 — present: Martin McGuinness, Sinn Féin

Elections

Elections in the 2000s

General Election 2005: Mid Ulster

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Sinn Féin	Martin McGuinness	21,641	47.6	−3.5
	DUP	Ian McCrea	10,665	23.5	−7.6
	SDLP	Patsy McGlone	7,922	17.4	+0.6
	UUP	Billy Armstrong	4,853	10.7	+10.7
	Workers' Party	Francis Donnelly	345	0.8	−0.2
Majority			10,976	24.2
Turnout			45,426	72.5	−8.8
	Sinn Féin hold		Swing	+2.1

General Election 2001: Mid Ulster

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Sinn Féin	Martin McGuinness	25,502	51.1	+11.0
	DUP	Ian McCrea	15,549	31.1	−5.2
	SDLP	Eilish Haughey	8,376	16.8	−5.3
	Workers' Party	Francie Donnelly	509	1.0	+0.5
Majority			9,953	20.0
Turnout			49,936	81.3	−4.8
	Sinn Féin hold		Swing

Elections in the 1990s

General Election 1997: Mid Ulster

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Sinn Féin	Martin McGuinness	20,294	40.1
	DUP	William McCrea	18,411	36.3
	SDLP	Denis Haughey	11,205	22.1
	Alliance	Ephrem Bogues	460	0.9
	Workers' Party	Marian Donnelly	238	0.5
	Natural Law	Maureen Murray	61	0.1
Majority			1,883
Turnout				86.1
	Sinn Féin gain from DUP		Swing

1992 Notional Results: Mid Ulster

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	DUP	William McCrea	19,274	41.0
	SDLP	Denis Haughey	14,360	30.6
	Sinn Féin	Barry McElduff	11,340	24.4
	Alliance	Ann Gormley	1,229	2.6
	Others		779	1.7
Majority			4,914	10.5
Turnout				7
	DUP hold		Swing

Between 1992 and 1996 there were significant boundary changes, creating the new seat of West Tyrone. This had a huge knock on effect on Mid Ulster, which lost all its areas in Omagh and Strabane district councils, and gained the Torrent LGD in Dungannon from Fermanagh and South Tyrone, and the parts of Magherafelt District Council previously in East Londonderry. Therefore the implied 1992 election results are very different from the actual ones and are displayed above.

General Election 1992: Mid Ulster

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	DUP	William McCrea	23,181	42.3
	SDLP	Denis Haughey	16,994	31.0
	Sinn Féin	Barry McElduff	10,248	18.7
	Alliance	Ann Gormley	1,506	2.8
	Labour and Trade Union	Harry Hutchinson	389	0.7
	Workers' Party	Tommy Owens	285	0.5
	Natural Law	James Anderson	164	0.3
Majority			6,187	11.3
Turnout				79.3
	DUP hold		Swing

Elections in the 1980s

General Election 1987: Mid Ulster

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	DUP	William McCrea	23,004	44.2
	SDLP	Denis Haughey	13,644	26.2
	Sinn Féin	Sean Begley	12,449	23.9
	Alliance	Paddy Bogan	1,846	3.5
	Workers' Party	Paddy Joe McLean	1,133	2.2
Majority			9,360	18.0
Turnout				77.4
	DUP hold		Swing

Mid Ulster by-election, 1986

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	DUP	William McCrea	23,695
	Sinn Féin	Danny Morrisson	13,998
	SDLP	Adrian Colton	13,021
	Workers' Party	Tommy Owens	691
Majority			6,967
Turnout
	DUP hold		Swing

General Election 1983: Mid Ulster

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	DUP	William McCrea	16,174	30.0
	Sinn Féin	Danny Morrison	16,096	29.9
	SDLP	Denis Haughey	12,044	22.4
	UUP	William Thompson	7,066	13.1
	Alliance	Aidan Logan	1,735	3.2
	Workers' Party	Tommy Owens	766	1.4
Majority			78	0.1
Turnout				84.3
	DUP gain from UUUP		Swing

Elections in the 1970s

General Election 1979: Mid Ulster

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	UUUP	John Dunlop	29,249	44.7
	SDLP	Paddy Duffy	19,266	29.4
	Irish Independence	Patrick Fahy	12,055	19.9
	Alliance	Aidan Lagan	3,481	5.3
	Republican Clubs	Francie Donnelly	1,414	2.2
Majority			9,983	15.3
Turnout				80.4
	UUUP gain from Vanguard		Swing

General Election October 1974: Mid Ulster

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Vanguard	John Dunlop	30,552	47.4
	SDLP	Ivan Cooper	25,885	40.1
	Republican Clubs	Francie Donnelly	8,091	12.5
Majority			4,667	7.2
Turnout				79.0
	Vanguard hold		Swing

General Election February 1974: Mid Ulster

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Vanguard	John Dunlop	26,004	39.0
	SDLP	Ivan Cooper	19,372	29.1
	Independent Socialist	Bernadette McAliskey	16,672	25.0
	Pro-Assembly Unionist	Neville Thornton	4,633	7.0
Majority			6,632	10.0
Turnout				79.3
	Vanguard gain from Unity		Swing

General Election 1970: Mid Ulster

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unity	Bernadette Devlin	37,739	53.5
	UUP	Neville Thornton	31,810	45.1
	Independent	Michael Cunningham	771	1.1
	National Socialist	Phelim O'Neill	198	0.3
Majority			5,929	8.4
Turnout				90.9
	Unity gain from UUP		Swing

Elections in the 1960s

Mid Ulster by-election, 1969

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unity	Bernadette Devlin	33,648	53.3	N/A
	UUP	Anna Forrest	29,437	46.7	− 5.6
Majority			4,211	6.7	+ 2.2
Turnout			63,085	91.5	+ 7.6
	Unity gain from UUP		Swing

General Election 1966: Mid Ulster

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	UUP	George Forrest	29,728	52.3
	Ind. Republican	Tom Mitchell	27,168	47.8
Majority			2,560	4.5
Turnout				83.9
	UUP hold		Swing

General Election 1964: Mid Ulster

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	UUP	George Forrest	29,715	51.6
	Ind. Republican	Tom Mitchell	22,810	39.6
	NI Labour	Patrick McGarvey	5,053	8.8
Majority			6,905	12.0
Turnout				85.1
	UUP hold		Swing

Elections in the 1950s

General Election 1959: Mid Ulster

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	UUP	George Forrest	33,093	70.0
	Sinn Féin	Tom Mitchell	14,170	30.0
Majority			18,923	40.0
Turnout				71.0
	UUP hold		Swing

Mid Ulster by-election, 1956

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Ind. Unionist	George Forrest	28,605	48.36
	Sinn Féin	Tom Mitchell	24,124	40.78
	Anti-Partition	Michael O'Neill	6,421	10.86
Majority			4,481	7.58
Turnout			59,150	88.43
	Ind. Unionist gain from Sinn Féin		Swing

Mid Ulster by-election, 1955

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Sinn Féin	Tom Mitchell	30,392
	UUP	Charles Beattie	29,586
Majority			806
Turnout
	Sinn Féin hold		Swing

The seat was awarded to Beattie on petition on the grounds that Mitchell's conviction as a felon made him ineligible to sit in Parliament. 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.

General Election 1955: Mid Ulster

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Sinn Féin	Tom Mitchell	29,737	50.2
	UUP	Charles Beattie	29,477	49.8
Majority			260	0.4
Turnout				88.6
	Sinn Féin gain from Ind. Republican		Swing

Mitchell was subsequently unseated upon petition, on the grounds that his terrorist convictions made him ineligible to sit in Parliament.

General Election 1951: Mid Ulster

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Ind. Republican	Michael O'Neill	33,097	52.7
	UUP	John Shearer	29,701	47.3
Majority			3,396	5.4
Turnout				91.8
	Ind. Republican hold		Swing

General Election 1950: Mid Ulster

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Ind. Republican	Anthony Mulvey	33,023	52.6
	UUP	John Shearer	29,721	47.4
Majority			3,302	5.2
Turnout				91.6
	Ind. Republican hold		Swing

Sources

• Guardian Unlimited Politics (Election results from 1992 to the present)
• http://www.psr.keele.ac.uk/ (Election results from 1951 to the present)
• Leigh Rayment's Peerage Page (Complete list of MPs)
• F. W. S. Craig, British Parliamentary Election Results 1918 - 1949
• F. W. S. Craig, British Parliamentary Election Results 1950 - 1970

See also

• List of Parliamentary constituencies in Northern Ireland