A by-election for the

UK 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 mem ...

constituency of Mid Ulster in Northern Ireland was held on 7 March 2013. The election was triggered by the resignation of Martin McGuinness, who had been elected to the seat in 1997 as the Sinn Féin candidate. The election was won by

Francie Molloy Francie Molloy ( ga, Proinsias Ó Maolmhuaidh; born 16 December 1950) is an Irish Sinn Féin politician who has been the abstentionist Member of Parliament (MP) for Mid Ulster since 2013. He was a Member of the Northern Ireland Assembly (MLA) ...

, also of Sinn Féin.

Resignation of the sitting MP - Martin McGuinness

On 11 June 2012, the sitting MP Martin McGuinness announced his intention to resign from the House of Commons to concentrate on his position as

Deputy First Minister of Northern Ireland The First Minister and deputy First Minister of Northern Ireland are the joint heads of government of the Northern Ireland Executive and have overall responsibility for the running of the Executive Office. Despite the different titles for the two ...

and avoid so-called "

double jobbing A dual mandate is the practice in which elected officials serve in more than one elected or other public position simultaneously. This practice is sometimes known as double jobbing in Britain and ''cumul des mandats'' in France; not to be confused ...

", by which members of the

Northern Ireland Assembly sco-ulster, Norlin Airlan Assemblie , legislature = 7th Northern Ireland Assembly, Seventh Assembly , coa_pic = File:NI_Assembly.svg , coa_res = 250px , house_type = Unicameralism, Unicameral , hou ...

sometimes also work as MPs or councillors. Under the Westminster system, the vacation of a seat by a sitting MP triggers a by-election to choose their successor, with the election date in this case being set by the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland due to Sinn Féin's policy of abstentionism. In reference to the cost incurred by such an election, Sinn Féin said they would have preferred the vacancy be filled by co-option (as used for other elected bodies in Northern Ireland), but this is not permitted in the Westminster system. Having delayed the announcement in part to avoid a winter election, McGuinness confirmed he had resigned on 30 December 2012, with the formal process of being appointed Crown Steward and Bailiff of the Manor of Northstead occurring on 2 January 2013, a procedural device that Sinn Féin oppose.

Result

Sinn Féin candidate

held the seat. However, the majority was much reduced from the 2010 election. The Sinn Féin vote fell by five percentage points to just under 47%. Also, whereas in 2010 McGuinness was opposed by three unionist parties, 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 J ...

, Ulster Conservatives and Unionists and Traditional Unionist Voice, none of whom polled more than 15%, on this occasion there was only a single independent Unionist candidate, Nigel Lutton. Lutton took over 34% of the vote, a slight increase on the combined votes of the three unionists in the general election. ¹This is compared to the combined vote at the 2010 general election of the

, Ulster Conservatives and Unionists and Traditional Unionist Voice.

Candidates and the campaign

The Statement of Persons Nominated was published on 21 February and confirmed that four candidates would contest the by-election. The result was declared in the early hours of Friday, 8 March.

Alliance

Alliance chose Eric Bullick.

SDLP

The Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) chose Patsy McGlone MLA for Mid Ulster, as their candidate.

Sinn Féin

Sinn Féin's

MLA, then deputy speaker of the

, was selected as the party's candidate.

Unionist unity

Nigel Lutton stood as an Independent Unionist, supported by the

(DUP), the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP; who stood at the preceding general election as part of the

Conservatives and Unionists The Ulster Conservatives and Unionists, officially registered as the ''Ulster Conservatives and Unionists – New Force'' (''UCUNF''), was an electoral alliance in Northern Ireland between the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) and the Conservative ...

), Traditional Unionist Voice (TUV) and others. The possibility of a unionist 'unity' candidate to maximise the chance of defeating Sinn Féin was raised early on. There were discussions between the DUP and the UUP on standing a unity candidate. The UUP were described as being "coy" on whether or not they would stand or support another unionist candidate. The DUP chair of

Magherafelt District Council Magherafelt District Council was a district council in County Londonderry in Northern Ireland. It was merged with Cookstown District Council and Dungannon and South Tyrone Borough Council on 1 April 2015 under local government reorganisation in ...

and TUV leader Jim Allister MLA called for a unity candidate and TUV said they would probably not stand a candidate. The UUP leader

Mike Nesbitt Michael Nesbitt, MLA (born 11 May 1957) is a British politician and former broadcaster However, a meeting of the UUP constituency association was reported to be divided on the issue of whether to support a unity candidate. This came against a backdrop of greater unionist unity in Northern Irish politics more generally, including the setting up of the Unionist Forum and warmer relationships between the DUP and UUP, and the flag protests. On behalf of the UK Independence Party,

David McNarry David McNarry (born 25 May 1948) is a UK Independence Party (UKIP) politician in Northern Ireland, who was the leader of UKIP Northern Ireland from 2012 to 2016. He stood for the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) in North Down in the 1982 Assembly el ...

MLA also supported the idea of a unionist unity candidate in a press release. The idea of a unionist unity candidate was criticised as "living in the past" by Molloy, the Sinn Féin candidate. Alliance candidate Eric Bullick also criticised the decision. On 14 February, the UUP and DUP constituency associations both agreed to support victims' campaigner and local undertaker Nigel Lutton as a single unionist candidate. TUV are also supported Lutton's candidacy, with Walter Millar, the party's constituency chairman and their candidate at the general election, signing Lutton's nomination papers. However, two UUP Members of the Northern Ireland Legislative Assembly, former deputy leader

John McCallister John McCallister (born 20 February 1972) is a Northern Irish Unionist politician. In 2007, he was elected to the Northern Ireland Assembly as an Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) member for South Down. On 14 February 2013, McCallister announced tha ...

and

Basil McCrea Basil McCrea (born 13 November 1959) is a former Northern Irish politician. He was the party leader of NI21 from 2013 until it disbanded in 2016. He was also a Member of the Northern Ireland Assembly (MLA) for Lagan Valley from 2007 to 2016. Po ...

, resigned from the party in protest at the decision and closer co-operation with the DUP. After the by-election, in June 2013, they announced the formation of NI21, a new unionist party. Lutton declined to tell reporters which party he usually votes for. He previously worked as a personal assistant for DUP MP David Simpson, to whom he is related, and had before that been a member of the

Young Unionists The Young Unionists, formally known as the Ulster Young Unionist Council (UYUC), is the youth wing of the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP). It has in its present incarnation been in existence since 2004. History Attempts had been made in the 1920s to ...

, the youth wing of the UUP. His election agent was UUP General Secretary Colin McCusker, a long-time personal friend. Both DUP and UUP politicians were involved in his campaign.

Willie Frazer William Frederick Frazer (8 July 1960 – 28 June 2019) was a Northern Irish Ulster loyalism, Ulster loyalist activist and advocate for those affected by Irish republicanism, Irish republican violence in Northern Ireland. He was the founder and ...

, a victims' campaigner, independent unionist and spokesman for the then newly constituted protest alliance the Ulster People's Forum, initially announced his intention to stand. Frazer told a 'webchat' for the Belfast Newsletter that the Ulster People's Forum "is not a political party", and that in usual circumstances he would consider voting for the Traditionalist Unionist Voice. At the end of January 2013, Frazer then said he would consider not standing in favour of

Jamie Bryson Jamie Bryson (born 1990 Donaghadee, Northern Ireland) is a loyalist activist in Northern Ireland who originally attracted media attention as a leading figure in the Belfast City Hall flag protests. He is the author of four books and is the edit ...

, a leading figure in the

Belfast City Hall flag protests On 3 December 2012, Belfast City Council voted to limit the days that the Union Flag (the flag of the United Kingdom) flies from Belfast City Hall.Protestant Coalition The Protestant Coalition was an Ulster loyalist political party in Northern Ireland. It was registered on 23 April 2013,Register of political parties aElectoral Commissionwebsite and launched on 24 April at a hotel in Castlereagh, outside Belfas ...

, a new political party.

Allegations about the killing of Frederick Lutton

Nigel Lutton's father, Frederick, was a former RUC reservist killed by the Provisional Irish Republican Army (PIRA) in 1979. In 2007, under

Parliamentary privilege Parliamentary privilege is a legal immunity enjoyed by members of certain legislatures, in which legislators are granted protection against civil or criminal liability for actions done or statements made in the course of their legislative duties. ...

, DUP MP David Simpson (a cousin of Frederick Lutton) alleged that

, then a PIRA volunteer/member, was suspected by the police of being involved in Lutton's death. Simpson also claimed Molloy had become an informer for the British security forces after being caught in "a compromising position" and that he was "well known – and this information is from the police – for a series of sexual indiscretions". Molloy, the claims continued, allowed the police to "break open" the IRA's

East Tyrone Brigade The East Tyrone Brigade of the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA), also known as the Tyrone/Monaghan Brigade was one of the most active republican paramilitary groups in Northern Ireland during "the Troubles". It is believed to have drawn ...

. These allegations were denied by Molloy, who has challenged unionists to repeat them outside Parliament, which would allow him to take legal action. UUP leader Mike Nesbitt has said he was unaware of the allegations against Molloy when he agreed on the choice of Nigel Lutton as candidate. Nigel Lutton stated that his decision to stand was not because of Molloy's candidacy.

Previous result

²Compared to the Ulster Unionist Party at the previous election.

References

{{By-elections to the 55th UK Parliament 2013 elections in the United Kingdom By-elections to the Parliament of the United Kingdom in County Londonderry constituencies By-elections to the Parliament of the United Kingdom in County Tyrone constituencies 21st century in County Londonderry 21st century in County Tyrone 2013 elections in Northern Ireland