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Upper Bann (UK Parliament constituency)

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Upper Bann
County constituency
Upper Bann shown within Northern Ireland
Created: 1983
MP: David Simpson
Party: Democratic Unionist
Type: House of Commons
Districts: Craigavon, Banbridge
EP constituency: Northern Ireland
Upper Bann is a Parliamentary Constituency in the House of Commons and also an Assembly constituency in the Northern Ireland Assembly.

Contents

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

Proposed Boundary changes

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. These changes were opposed during a series of consultations with the result that new recommendations were published which leave Upper Bann unchanged. As revised recommendations are rarely changed it is likely that these boundaries will be the final recommendations.

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 (UK Parliament 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 pressure from 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 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.

Westminster elections

Members 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.

Elections






















Assembly and Forum elections


The six MLAs for the constituency elected in the 2003 election are:




In the 1998 election the six MLAs elected were:




Changes 1998-2003




In the 1996 election to the Northern Ireland Peace Forum, 5 Forum members were elected from Upper Bann. They were as follows:





Sources



See also




 Constituencies in Northern Ireland


 DUP

Belfast East | Belfast North | East Antrim | East Londonderry | Lagan Valley | North Antrim | South Antrim | Strangford | Upper Bann


 Sinn Féin

Belfast West | Fermanagh and South Tyrone | Mid Ulster | Newry and Armagh | West Tyrone


 SDLP

Belfast South | Foyle | South Down


 UUP

North Down


Northern Ireland European constituency: DUP (1) | Sinn Féin (1) | UUP (1)






 





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