Belfast East is a
parliamentary constituency
An electoral district, also known as an election district, legislative district, voting district, constituency, riding, ward, division, or (election) precinct is a subdivision of a larger state (a country, administrative region, or other poli ...
in the
United Kingdom House of Commons
The House of Commons is the lower house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the upper house, the House of Lords, it meets in the Palace of Westminster in London, England.
The House of Commons is an elected body consisting of 650 me ...
. The current MP is
Gavin Robinson
Gavin James Robinson (born 22 November 1984) is a Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) politician and barrister. He has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Belfast East in the UK House of Commons since the 2015 general election. He was Lord Ma ...
of the
DUP.
Boundaries
1885–1918: In the Borough of Belfast, that part of Dock ward not in
Belfast North and that part of Cromac ward in County Down, the townlands of Ballycloghan,
Ballyhackamore
Ballyhackamore () is a townland in County Down, Northern Ireland, it is a suburb of Belfast located on the Upper Newtownards Road. It is also a ward in the UK Parliamentary constituency of East Belfast.
The Sunday Times named Ballyhackamore th ...
, Ballymaghan, Ballymisert and Strandtown in the parish of
Holywood, and the townlands of Ballyrushboy, Knock and Multyhogy in the parish of Knockbreda.
1922–1974: The County Borough of Belfast wards of Dock, Pottinger, and Victoria.
1974–1983: The County Borough of Belfast wards of Pottinger and Victoria, and the Rural District of Castlereagh electoral divisions of Ballyhackamore, Ballymaconaghy, Ballymiscaw, Castlereagh, Dundonald, and Gilnakirk.
1983–1997: The District of Belfast wards of Ballyhackamore, Ballymacarrett, Belmont, Bloomfield, Island, Orangefield, Shandon, Stormont, Sydenham, and The Mount, and the District of Castlereagh wards of Cregagh, Downshire, Lisnasharragh, and Wynchurch.
1997–2010: The District of Belfast wards of Ballyhackamore, Ballymacarrett, Belmont, Bloomfield, Cherryvalley, Island, Knock, Orangefield, Stormont, Sydenham, and The Mount, and the District of Castlereagh wards of Cregagh, Downshire, Gilnakirk, Hillfoot, Lisnasharragh, Lower Braniel, Tullycarnet, Upper Braniel, and Wynchurch.
2010–present: The District of Belfast wards of Ballyhackamore, Ballymacarrett, Belmont, Bloomfield, Cherryvalley, Island, Knock, Orangefield, Stormont, Sydenham, and The Mount, and the District of Castlereagh wards of Ballyhanwood, Carrowreagh, Cregagh, Downshire, Dundonald, Enler, Gilnakirk, Graham's Bridge, Lisnasharragh, Lower Braniel, Tullycarnet, and Upper Braniel.
The seat was created in 1922 when, as part of the establishment of the devolved
Stormont Parliament
The Parliament of Northern Ireland was the home rule legislature of Northern Ireland, created under the Government of Ireland Act 1920, which sat from 7 June 1921 to 30 March 1972, when it was suspended because of its inability to restore ord ...
for Northern Ireland, the number of MPs in the
Westminster Parliament
The Parliament of the United Kingdom is the Parliamentary sovereignty in the United Kingdom, supreme Legislature, legislative body of the United Kingdom, the Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories. It meets at the Palace of We ...
was drastically cut. The seat is centred on the east section of
Belfast
Belfast ( , ; from ga, Béal Feirste , meaning 'mouth of the sand-bank ford') is the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan on the east coast. It is the 12th-largest city in the United Kingd ...
and also contains part of the district of
Castlereagh.
Prior to the
2010 general election the Northern Ireland
Boundary Commission proposed expanding Belfast East further into Castlereagh, taking in areas currently contained in
Strangford
Strangford (from Old Norse ''Strangr fjörðr'', meaning "strong sea-inlet") is a small village at the mouth of Strangford Lough, on the Lecale peninsula in County Down, Northern Ireland. It had a population of 475 at the 2001 Census.
On the ...
, however almost all of these areas were part of Belfast East until 1983. A small part of the constituency was proposed for transfer to
Belfast South.
Following a public meeting and revised recommendations, the new boundaries of Belfast East were confirmed by the commission and passed through Parliament through the use of the Northern Ireland Parliamentary Constituencies Order.
History
Belfast East is an overwhelmingly
unionist constituency with
nationalist
Nationalism is an idea and movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the State (polity), state. As a movement, nationalism tends to promote the interests of a particular nation (as in a in-group and out-group, group of peo ...
parties routinely failing to get more than 10% of the vote combined. The main interest has been the contest between unionist parties and the fortunes of the
Alliance Party of Northern Ireland
The Alliance Party of Northern Ireland (APNI), or simply Alliance, is a liberal and centrist political party in Northern Ireland. As of the 2022 Northern Ireland Assembly election, it is the third-largest party in the Northern Ireland Assemb ...
.
Dominated by the giant
Samson and Goliath cranes of the
Harland and Wolff
Harland & Wolff is a British shipbuilding company based in Belfast, Northern Ireland. It specialises in ship repair, shipbuilding and offshore construction. Harland & Wolff is famous for having built the majority of the ocean liners for the ...
shipyard, the constituency is socially mixed. There are large expanses of small
Victorian
Victorian or Victorians may refer to:
19th century
* Victorian era, British history during Queen Victoria's 19th-century reign
** Victorian architecture
** Victorian house
** Victorian decorative arts
** Victorian fashion
** Victorian literature ...
terraced housing near
Belfast City Centre and around the shipyard in Ballymacarrett. These areas have seen significant refurbishment, and in some places demolition and redevelopment, in recent years sparking a sharp rise in house prices. This is contrasted by a large amount of solidly lower-middle class housing and some exclusive residential districts such as the much mocked
Cherryvalley. This social polarisation is to a large degree reflected by the political polarisation, at least within the broader unionist family, in the seat. The small
Catholic
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwide . It is am ...
population is split between the largely working class
Short Strand enclave
An enclave is a territory (or a small territory apart of a larger one) that is entirely surrounded by the territory of one other state or entity. Enclaves may also exist within territorial waters. ''Enclave'' is sometimes used improperly to deno ...
and minorities in the more middle-class parts of the seat.
The seat was consistently held by the
Ulster Unionist Party
The Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) is a unionist political party in Northern Ireland. The party was founded in 1905, emerging from the Irish Unionist Alliance in Ulster. Under Edward Carson, it led unionist opposition to the Irish Home Rule ...
until the
1974 general election when the sitting MP,
Stanley McMaster
Stanley Raymond McMaster (23 September 1926 – 20 October 1992) was a Unionist politician in Northern Ireland and a barrister at Lincoln's Inn in London.
He was elected as an Ulster Unionist Party Member of Parliament for Belfast East at the ...
, defended it as a Pro-Assembly Unionist against a united anti-
Sunningdale Agreement coalition which nominated
William Craig of the
Vanguard Progressive Unionist Party. Craig won the seat and held it for five years, moving to the UUP in February 1978.
In the
1979 general election the constituency witnessed a very close three-way fight between
Peter Robinson Peter Robinson may refer to:
Entertainment
* Peter Robinson (sideshow artist) (1873–1947), American actor and sideshow performer, known for his appearance in film ''Freaks'' (1932)
* J. Peter Robinson (born 1945), British musician and film score ...
of the
Democratic Unionist Party
The Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) is a unionist, loyalist, and national conservative political party in Northern Ireland. It was founded in 1971 during the Troubles by Ian Paisley, who led the party for the next 37 years. Currently led by ...
, William Craig for the UUP and
Oliver Napier
Sir Oliver Napier (11 July 1935 – 2 July 2011) was the first leader of the Alliance Party of Northern Ireland. In 1974 he served as the first and only Legal Minister and head of the Office of Legal Reform in the Northern Ireland power-sha ...
for the
Alliance Party of Northern Ireland
The Alliance Party of Northern Ireland (APNI), or simply Alliance, is a liberal and centrist political party in Northern Ireland. As of the 2022 Northern Ireland Assembly election, it is the third-largest party in the Northern Ireland Assemb ...
. Less than 1000 votes separated the three candidates. Robinson beat Craig by the narrow margin of 64 votes. Also of note was that over 90% of votes went to parties that had not contested the seat at the previous election – in part due to realignments of the parties.
Robinson continued to hold the seat but the Alliance Party continued to poll well, and in
1987
File:1987 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The MS Herald of Free Enterprise capsizes after leaving the Port of Zeebrugge in Belgium, killing 193; Northwest Airlines Flight 255 crashes after takeoff from Detroit Metropolitan Airpor ...
John Alderdice polled 32.1% – the highest ever for Alliance in a Westminster election before 2010. However, their vote declined until 2010 and in 2005 they finished a distant third.
In the
2001 general election, Alliance proposed a pro-
Good Friday Agreement
The Good Friday Agreement (GFA), or Belfast Agreement ( ga, Comhaontú Aoine an Chéasta or ; Ulster-Scots: or ), is a pair of agreements signed on 10 April 1998 that ended most of the violence of The Troubles, a political conflict in Nor ...
pact with the
Ulster Unionist Party
The Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) is a unionist political party in Northern Ireland. The party was founded in 1905, emerging from the Irish Unionist Alliance in Ulster. Under Edward Carson, it led unionist opposition to the Irish Home Rule ...
in the hopes of getting UUP support in Belfast East. The UUP did not agree and so both parties stood. Robinson was re-elected with 42.5%, with the UUP, Alliance and
Progressive Unionist Party
The Progressive Unionist Party (PUP) is a minor unionist political party in Northern Ireland. It was formed from the Independent Unionist Group operating in the Shankill area of Belfast, becoming the PUP in 1979. Linked to the Ulster Volunt ...
carving up the pro-Agreement pro-union vote between them, but it is doubtful that an unopposed Alliance candidate could have consolidated all of that vote to beat Robinson.
In 2009 and 2010, Robinson became mired in a number of political scandals. In the
2010 general election, however, the Alliance Party candidate and sitting Lord Mayor of Belfast
Naomi Long defeated Robinson, in a shock result, more than tripling the Alliance vote and giving the Alliance their first ever seat in Westminster. Predictably, this was also the seat in which the Alliance gained the highest vote share, at 37.2%, more than double their best efforts elsewhere.
Of the 18 seats in the region, East Belfast has the highest percentage of
Methodists. The 2019 winning vote share was the fourth-largest of the region, but just short of an absolute majority.
Members of Parliament
The Member of Parliament after the 2010 general election was
Naomi Long, who defeated
Peter Robinson Peter Robinson may refer to:
Entertainment
* Peter Robinson (sideshow artist) (1873–1947), American actor and sideshow performer, known for his appearance in film ''Freaks'' (1932)
* J. Peter Robinson (born 1945), British musician and film score ...
, MP for Belfast East since the 1979 general election. Naomi Long subsequently lost her seat to
Gavin Robinson
Gavin James Robinson (born 22 November 1984) is a Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) politician and barrister. He has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Belfast East in the UK House of Commons since the 2015 general election. He was Lord Ma ...
in the 2015 general election.
Elections
Elections in the 2010s
Elections in the 2000s
Elections in the 1990s
1997 Changes are compared to the 1992 notional results shown below.
Elections in the 1980s
''Note:'' The by-election was caused by the decision of all Unionist MPs to resign their seats and seek re-election on a platform of opposition to the
Anglo-Irish Agreement.
Elections in the 1970s
Elections in the 1960s
Elections in the 1950s
Elections in the 1940s
Elections in the 1930s
Elections in the 1920s
Elections in the 1910s
Elections in the 1900s
Elections in the 1890s
Elections in the 1880s
See also
*
List of parliamentary constituencies in Northern Ireland
References
Further reading
*
F. W. S. Craig, ''British Parliamentary Election Results 1918 – 1949''
*
F. W. S. Craig, ''British Parliamentary Election Results 1950 – 1970''
*''The Constitutional Year Book For 1912'',
Conservative Central Office
The Conservative Campaign Headquarters (CCHQ), formerly known as Conservative Central Office (CCO), is the headquarters of the British Conservative Party, housing its central staff and committee members, including campaign coordinators and ma ...
*''The Constitutional Year Book For 1894'',
Conservative Central Office
The Conservative Campaign Headquarters (CCHQ), formerly known as Conservative Central Office (CCO), is the headquarters of the British Conservative Party, housing its central staff and committee members, including campaign coordinators and ma ...
External links
Politics Resources(Election results from 1922 onwards)
(Election results from 1955 onwards)
2017 ElectionHouse of Commons Library 2017 Election report
A Vision Of Britain Through Time(Constituency elector numbers)
BBC News, Election 2005BBC News, Vote 2001*
Politicsresources.net - Official Web Site ✔ (Election results from 1951 to the present)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Belfast East (Uk Parliament Constituency)
Westminster Parliamentary constituencies in Belfast
Westminster Parliamentary constituencies in Northern Ireland
Constituencies of the Parliament of the United Kingdom established in 1885
Constituencies of the Parliament of the United Kingdom disestablished in 1918
Constituencies of the Parliament of the United Kingdom established in 1922