Upper Bann (UK Parliament constituency)

For other constituencies of the same name, see Upper Bann (disambiguation).

Upper Bann
county constituency for the House of Commons
Boundary of Upper Bann in Northern Ireland
Districts of Northern Ireland	Armagh, Banbridge and Craigavon
Electorate	77,905 (March 2011)
Major settlements	Lurgan, Portadown
Current constituency
Created	1983
Member of Parliament	Carla Lockhart (DUP)
Seats	1
Created from	Armagh and South Down [1]

Upper Bann is a parliamentary constituency in Northern Ireland, which is represented in the United Kingdom House of Commons. The current MP is Carla Lockhart of the DUP.

Constituency profile

Upper Bann includes the post-industrial towns of Portadown, Craigavon, and Lurgan.

Boundaries

Map of current boundaries

1983–1997: The District of Craigavon, and the District of Banbridge wards of Ballydown, Central, Edenderry, Gilford, Laurencetown, Loughbrickland, and Seapatrick.

1997–present: The District of Craigavon, and the District of Banbridge wards of Ballydown, Banbridge West, Edenderry, Fort, Gilford, Lawrencetown, Loughbrickland, Seapatrick, and The Cut.

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 entirety of the district of Craigavon as well as part of Banbridge.

In 2005, the Boundary Commission published provisional recommendations for modifying the boundaries of constituencies in Northern Ireland. It proposed transferring two small parts of Upper Bann to South Down and Lagan Valley. Following public consultation, the Commission revised its proposals which were finally passed through Parliament by means of the Northern Ireland Parliamentary Constituencies Order. ^[2]

History

For the history of the equivalent constituencies prior to 1950 please see Armagh (UK Parliament constituency) and Down (UK Parliament constituency) and from 1950 until 1983, please see also South Down.

The constituency has a unionist majority, though the combined votes for nationalist parties have reached around 35% in elections. The Ulster Unionist Party has traditionally been dominant though it has been supplanted by the Democratic Unionist Party in recent years. The constituency contains Portadown and Drumcree, 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 for the Conservatives, whilst the SDP polled a mere 154 votes. In that by-election David Trimble was elected and five years later he became leader of the Ulster Unionist Party. Trimble's leadership came in for much criticism from the rival Democratic Unionist Party and they strongly targeted the area.

In the 2001 general election 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 not to 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. Simpson retained his seat in the 2010 general election, although the UUP vote has remained fairly static. The nationalist vote had continued to grow until the 2019 general election, which could have made this seat a possible battleground between nationalists and unionists. ^[3]

Members of Parliament

The previous Member of Parliament, since the 2005 general election, was David Simpson of the Democratic Unionist Party. In that election he defeated David Trimble, then leader of the Ulster Unionist Party, who had held the seat since a 1990 by-election. Simpson stood down at the 2019 general election. He was succeeded by Carla Lockhart, also of the DUP.

Election		Member	Party
	1983	Harold McCusker	Ulster Unionist
	1990 by-election	David Trimble
	2005	David Simpson	Democratic Unionist
	2019	Carla Lockhart

Elections

Upper Bann

Elections in the 2020s

General election 2024: Upper Bann

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Sinn Féin	Catherine Nelson [4]
	Alliance	Eóin Tennyson [5]
Majority
Turnout
Registered electors
			Swing

Elections in the 2010s

General election 2019: Upper Bann ^[6]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	DUP	Carla Lockhart	20,501	41.0	―2.5
	Sinn Féin	John O'Dowd	12,291	24.6	―3.3
	Alliance	Eóin Tennyson	6,433	12.9	+8.4
	UUP	Doug Beattie	6,197	12.4	―3.0
	SDLP	Dolores Kelly	4,623	9.2	+0.6
Majority			8,210	16.4	+0.8
Turnout			50,045	60.4	―3.5
Registered electors			82,856
	DUP hold		Swing	+0.5

General election 2017: Upper Bann ^{[7] [8]}

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	DUP	David Simpson	22,317	43.5	+10.8
	Sinn Féin	John O'Dowd	14,325	27.9	+3.3
	UUP	Doug Beattie	7,900	15.4	―12.5
	SDLP	Declan McAlinden	4,397	8.6	―0.4
	Alliance	Tara Doyle	2,319	4.5	+0.7
Majority			7,992	15.6	+11.8
Turnout			51,257	63.9	+4.9
Registered electors			80,168
	DUP hold		Swing	+3.7

General election 2015: Upper Bann ^{[9] [10]}

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	DUP	David Simpson	15,430	32.7	―1.1
	UUP	Jo-Anne Dobson	13,166	27.9	+2.2
	Sinn Féin	Catherine Seeley	11,593	24.6	―0.1
	SDLP	Dolores Kelly	4,238	9.0	―3.8
	Alliance	Peter Lavery	1,780	3.8	+0.8
	CISTA	Martin Kelly	460	1.0	New
	Workers' Party	Damien Harte	351	0.7	New
	NI Conservatives	Amandeep Singh Bhogal	201	0.4	New
Majority			2,264	4.8	―3.3
Turnout			47,219	59.0	+3.7
Registered electors			80,060
	DUP hold		Swing	―1.7

General election 2010: Upper Bann ^{[11] [12] [13]}

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	DUP	David Simpson	14,000	33.8	―3.8
	UCU-NF	Harry Hamilton	10,639	25.7	+0.2
	Sinn Féin	John O'Dowd	10,237	24.7	+3.7
	SDLP	Dolores Kelly	5,276	12.8	―0.2
	Alliance	Brendan Heading	1,231	3.0	+0.8
Majority			3,361	8.1	―4.0
Turnout			41,383	55.3	―5.9
Registered electors			74,732
	DUP hold		Swing	―1.9

Elections in the 2000s

General election 2005: Upper Bann ^{[13] [14]}

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	DUP	David Simpson	16,679	37.6	+8.1
	UUP	David Trimble	11,281	25.5	―8.0
	Sinn Féin	John O'Dowd	9,305	21.0	―0.1
	SDLP	Dolores Kelly	5,747	13.0	―1.9
	Alliance	Alan Castle	955	2.2	New
	Workers' Party	Tom French	355	0.8	―0.2
Majority			5,398	12.1	N/A
Turnout			44,322	61.2	―9.1
Registered electors			71,645
	DUP gain from UUP		Swing	+8.1

General election 2001: Upper Bann ^{[13] [15]}

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	UUP	David Trimble	17,095	33.5	―10.1
	DUP	David Simpson	15,037	29.5	+18.0
	Sinn Féin	Dara O'Hagan	10,771	21.1	+9.0
	SDLP	Dolores Kelly	7,607	14.9	―9.3
	Workers' Party	Tom French	527	1.0	―0.2
Majority			2,058	4.0	―15.4
Turnout			51,037	70.3	+2.5
Registered electors			72,574
	UUP hold		Swing	―14.1

Elections in the 1990s

General election 1997: Upper Bann ^{[13] [16]}

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	UUP	David Trimble	20,836	43.6	―15.4
	SDLP	Bríd Rodgers	11,584	24.2	+0.8
	Sinn Féin	Bernadette O'Hagan	5,773	12.1	+0.6
	DUP	Mervyn Carrick	5,482	11.5	New
	Alliance	William Ramsay	3,017	6.3	+0.7
	Workers' Party	Tom French	554	1.2	―1.3
	NI Conservatives	Brian Price	433	0.9	―2.5
	Natural Law	Jack Lyons	108	0.2	New
Majority			9,252	19.4	―16.2
Turnout			47,787	67.8	+0.4
Registered electors			70,503
	UUP hold		Swing	―8.1

General election 1992: Upper Bann ^[17]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	UUP	David Trimble	26,824	59.0	―2.5
	SDLP	Bríd Rodgers	10,661	23.4	+2.9
	Sinn Féin	Brendan Curran	2,777	6.1	―1.3
	Alliance	William Ramsay	2,541	5.6	―0.3
	NI Conservatives	Collette Jones	1,556	3.4	N/A
	Workers' Party	Tom French	1,120	2.5	―2.2
Majority			16,163	35.6	―5.4
Turnout			45,479	67.4	+1.4
Registered electors			67,446
	UUP hold		Swing

1990 Upper Bann by-election ^[18]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	UUP	David Trimble	20,547	58.0	―3.5
	SDLP	Bríd Rodgers	6,698	18.9	―1.6
	Sinn Féin	Sheena Campbell	2,033	5.7	―1.7
	Ulster Independence	Hugh Ross	1,534	4.3	New
	Workers' Party	Tom French	1,083	3.1	―1.6
	NI Conservatives	Colette Jones	1,038	3.0	New
	Alliance	William Ramsay	948	2.7	―3.2
	Ulster Democratic	Gary McMichael	600	1.7	New
	Green	Peter Doran	576	1.6	New
	Independent Labour	Erskine Holmes	235	0.6	New
	SDP	Alistair Dunn	154	0.4	New
Majority			13,849	39.1	―1.9
Turnout			35,446	53.4	―12.6
Registered electors			66,377
	UUP hold		Swing

Elections in the 1980s

General election 1987: Upper Bann ^[19]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	UUP	Harold McCusker	25,137	61.5	+4.6
	SDLP	Bríd Rodgers	8,676	20.5	+3.6
	Sinn Féin	Brendan Curran	3,126	7.4	―2.0
	Alliance	Mary Cook	2,487	5.9	New
	Workers' Party	Tom French	2,004	4.7	―0.8
Majority			17,361	41.0	0.0
Turnout			41,430	66.0	―6.0
Registered electors			64,540
	UUP hold		Swing

By-election 1986: Upper Bann ^[20]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	UUP	Harold McCusker	29,311	80.8	+23.9
	Workers' Party	Tom French	6,978	19.2	+13.7
Majority			22,333	61.6	+20.6
Turnout			36,861	57.2	―14.8
Registered electors			63,484
	UUP hold		Swing

General election 1983: Upper Bann ^[21]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	UUP	Harold McCusker	24,888	56.9
	SDLP	James McDonald	7,807	17.9
	DUP	Jim Wells	4,547	10.4
	Sinn Féin	Brendan Curran	4,110	9.4
	Workers' Party	Tom French	2,392	5.5
Majority			17,081	41.0
Turnout			41,644	72.0
Registered electors			60,734
	UUP win (new seat)

See also

• List of parliamentary constituencies in Northern Ireland
• 2017 Election House Of Commons Library 2017 Election report
• A Vision Of Britain Through Time (Constituency elector numbers)
• Politics Resources

References

1. "'Upper Bann', June 1983 up to May 1997". ElectionWeb Project. Cognitive Computing Limited. Retrieved 14 March 2016.
2. The Parliamentary Constituencies (Northern Ireland) Order 2008 Office of Public Sector Information
3. Keenan, Dan. "Constituency Profile: Upper Bann". The Irish Times.
4. @sinnfeinireland (25 May 2024). "Announcing our first Sinn Féin Westminster election candidates. In this election you can send a clear message for a better future. By voting for Sinn Féin you are endorsing strong leadership, positive change, and a commitment to work for all. On July 4th, vótáil Sinn Féin X" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
5. Eóin Tennyson MLA [@EoinTennyson] (25 May 2024). "It's always an honour to be selected by local members to represent the @AllianceParty in Upper Bann…" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
6. "Upper Bann Parliamentary constituency". BBC News. BBC. Retrieved 18 November 2019.
7. "Election of a Member of Parliament for the UPPER BANN Constituency - Statement of Persons Nominated and Notice of Poll". Electoral Office of Northern Ireland. 11 May 2017. Retrieved 16 May 2017.
8. "Election 2017 Results - Election Polling". www.electionpolling.co.uk.
9. "Election Data 2015". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 17 October 2015. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
10. "The Electoral Office of Northern Ireland - EONI". www.eoni.org.uk.
11. "Election Data 2010". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 26 July 2013. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
12. General Election 2010 – Upper Bann BBC News
13. Upper Bann ARK – Access Research Knowledge
14. "Election Data 2005". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
15. "Election Data 2001". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
16. "Election Data 1997". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
17. "Election Data 1992". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
18. Boothroyd, David. "Results of Byelections in the 1987-92 Parliament". United Kingdom Election Results. Retrieved 1 October 2015.
19. "Election Data 1987". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
20. Results of Byelections in the 1983-87 Parliament in the United Kingdom Election Results website maintained by David Boothroyd
21. "Election Data 1983". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.

External links

• BBC News, Election 2005
• BBC News, Vote 2001
• Guardian Unlimited Politics
• Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "U"
• Political Science Resources Election results from 1951 to the present

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