East Antrim is a parliamentary constituency 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 Sammy Wilson of the DUP. A constituency with identical boundaries is also used for elections to the

Northern Ireland Assembly sco-ulster, Norlin Airlan Assemblie , legislature = Seventh Assembly , coa_pic = File:NI_Assembly.svg , coa_res = 250px , house_type = Unicameral , house1 = , leader1_type = ...

Constituency profile

The seat covers the east coast from Cushendall down to Carrickfergus. The seat is strongly unionist and one of the few areas of Northern Ireland which voted to leave the European Union.

Boundaries

The original

county constituency In the United Kingdom (UK), each of the electoral areas or divisions called constituencies elects one member to the House of Commons. Within the United Kingdom there are five bodies with members elected by electoral districts called "constituenc ...

comprised the eastern part of

County Antrim County Antrim (named after the town of Antrim, ) is one of six counties of Northern Ireland and one of the thirty-two counties of Ireland. Adjoined to the north-east shore of Lough Neagh, the county covers an area of and has a population o ...

, being carved out of the former Antrim constituency. From 1885, East Antrim consisted of the baronies 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 ...

Lower and Glenarm Upper, that part of the barony of Antrim Upper not in the constituency of South Antrim, that part of the barony of Antrim Lower not in the constituency of Mid Antrim, that part of the barony of Belfast Upper consisting of the parish of

Ballymartin Ballymartin () is one of several places on the island of Ireland. ;Northern Ireland * A place near Templepatrick and junction 5 of the M2 motorway in County Antrim, with a large Translink park and ride facility for buses to Belfast. * A small vill ...

and the parish of Templepatrick apart from the

townland A townland ( ga, baile fearainn; Ulster-Scots: ''toonlann'') is a small geographical division of land, historically and currently used in Ireland and in the Western Isles in Scotland, typically covering . The townland system is of Gaelic orig ...

of Ballyutoag, and the town of Carrickfergus. It returned one Member of Parliament 1885–1922. The current 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 North Antrim and South Antrim. Since further revisions in 1995 (when it lost part of the district of Newtownabbey to the North Belfast constituency) it now covers the entirety of the districts of

Larne Larne (, , the name of a Gaelic territory) is a town on the east coast of County Antrim, Northern Ireland, with a population of 18,755 at the 2011 Census. It is a major passenger and freight roll-on roll-off port. Larne is administered by Mid ...

and Carrickfergus, as well as part of Newtownabbey and Moyle. Prior to the 2010 general election the Boundary Commission originally proposed two significant changes for East Antrim. In the south of the constituency it was proposed to transfer a further part of Newtownabbey to the North Belfast constituency whilst in the north the seat would have gained the Glens and Ballycastle in Moyle district from North Antrim. East Antrim would have been renamed 'Antrim Coast & Glens'. However this latter part of the proposal raised many questions, with some already arguing that the Glens have no natural ties to Jordanstown (and in 1995 the previous Boundary Commission cited this very reason when rejecting such a proposal). Following consultation and revising the recommendations, the new boundaries for East Antrim were confirmed and passed through Parliament by the Northern Ireland Parliamentary Constituencies Order as follows: *The whole district of Carrickfergus *The whole district of Larne *Glenaan, Glenariff, and Glendun from the Moyle district *From Newtownabbey, the wards of Jordanstown, Monkstown, and Rostulla

History

1885 until 1922

The constituency was a strongly conservative then unionist area, where republican and nationalist candidates were not elected. From 1886 to 1974 the Conservative and Unionist members of the United Kingdom House of Commons formed a single Parliamentary party. From 1905 there was an Ulster Unionist organisation, but MPs sponsored by it are classified as Irish Unionists until the 1921 Northern Ireland general election made the

partition of Ireland The partition of Ireland ( ga, críochdheighilt na hÉireann) was the process by which the Government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland divided History of Ireland (1801–1923), Ireland into two self-governing polities: Northe ...

effective so that Irish Unionism ceased to be a realistic objective. A victory for the Unionist candidate in 1918 by 15,206 votes to Sinn Féin's 861 votes demonstrated the virtual unanimity of the unionist support. Consequently, Sinn Féin did not contest the 1919 by-election in the constituency. In 1922, the constituency was incorporated into the Antrim constituency, which from 1950 until 1983 was divided into the North Antrim and South Antrim constituencies.

The First Dáil

Sinn Féin Sinn Féin ( , ; en, " eOurselves") is an Irish republican and democratic socialist political party active throughout both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. The original Sinn Féin organisation was founded in 1905 by Arthur G ...

contested the general election of 1918 on the platform that instead of taking up any seats they won in the

United Kingdom Parliament The Parliament of the United Kingdom is the supreme legislative body of the United Kingdom, the Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories. It meets at the Palace of Westminster, London. It alone possesses legislative supremac ...

, they would establish a revolutionary assembly in Dublin. In republican theory every MP elected in Ireland was a potential Deputy to this assembly. In practice only the Sinn Féin members accepted the offer. The revolutionary

First Dáil The First Dáil ( ga, An Chéad Dáil) was Dáil Éireann as it convened from 1919 to 1921. It was the first meeting of the unicameral parliament of the revolutionary Irish Republic. In the December 1918 election to the Parliament of the Un ...

assembled on 21 January 1919 and last met on 10 May 1921. The First Dáil, according to a resolution passed on 10 May 1921, was formally dissolved on the assembling of the

Second Dáil The Second Dáil () was Dáil Éireann as it convened from 16 August 1921 until 8 June 1922. From 1919 to 1922, Dáil Éireann was the revolutionary parliament of the self-proclaimed Irish Republic. The Second Dáil consisted of members elected ...

. This took place on 16 August 1921. In 1921 Sinn Féin decided to use the UK authorised elections for the Northern Ireland House of Commons and the

House of Commons of Southern Ireland The Parliament of Southern Ireland was a Home Rule legislature established by the British Government during the Irish War of Independence under the Government of Ireland Act 1920. It was designed to legislate for Southern Ireland,"Order in Co ...

as a poll for the

Irish Republic The Irish Republic ( ga, Poblacht na hÉireann or ) was an unrecognised revolutionary state that declared its independence from the United Kingdom in January 1919. The Republic claimed jurisdiction over the whole island of Ireland, but by ...

. This area, in republican theory, was incorporated in a seven-member Dáil constituency of Antrim.

Constituency since 1983

The constituency is overwhelmingly unionist, with the combined votes for

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 rarely exceeding 10%. However, there have been above average votes for parties outside the traditional unionist block, such as the

Alliance An alliance is a relationship among people, groups, or states that have joined together for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose, whether or not explicit agreement has been worked out among them. Members of an alliance are called ...

and the Conservatives. In the local government elections for the equivalent area many votes often go to independent candidates or groups such as the

Newtownabbey Ratepayers Association The Newtownabbey Ratepayers' Association was a minor political party operating in Newtownabbey, Northern Ireland It contested elections for Newtownabbey Borough Council from 1997 to 2005 and registered as a political party with the Electoral C ...

. While the SDLP sprung a surprise in 1998 by overtaking a DUP candidate to win the final seat due to Ulster Unionist transfers – the first time that any nationalist candidate has benefited in this way. The main interest in Westminster Elections has been the contest between 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 ...

and 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 ...

. In 1983 the UUP were only 367 votes ahead of the DUP. As part of a pact to oppose the Anglo-Irish Agreement the DUP did not contest the seat until 1992 but they still failed to come close, though in the 1996 elections to the Northern Ireland Forum they were only slightly behind the UUP. But in the 2001 general election they achieved an astonishing result when they came with 128 votes of winning the Westminster seat, despite not having targeted it. In the 2003 Assembly election they followed this up by gaining two additional MLAs and outpolling the UUP for the first time. The DUP remained eager to take the Westminster seat and in the 2005 general election they did so.

Members of Parliament

The Member of Parliament since the 2005 general election is Sammy Wilson of the

. In that election he defeated Roy Beggs of the

, who had sat for the seat since it was created at the

1983 general election The following elections occurred in the year 1983. Africa * 1983 Cameroonian parliamentary election * 1983 Equatorial Guinean legislative election * 1983 Kenyan general election * 1983 Malagasy parliamentary election * 1983 Malawian general e ...

Election results

Elections in the 2010s

Elections in the 2000s

Elections in the 1990s

Elections in the 1980s

Elections in the 1910s

Elections in the 1900s

Elections in the 1890s

Elections in the 1880s

References

External links

2017 Election
House Of Commons Library 2017 Election report
A Vision Of Britain Through Time
(Constituency elector numbers)

Bibliography

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Antrim East East Antrim Westminster constituencies in County Antrim (historic) Dáil constituencies in Northern Ireland (historic) Constituencies of the Parliament of the United Kingdom established in 1885 Constituencies of the Parliament of the United Kingdom disestablished in 1922 Constituencies of the Parliament of the United Kingdom established in 1983 Westminster Parliamentary constituencies in Northern Ireland