Belfast South (UK Parliament constituency)

For other constituencies of the same name, see Belfast South (disambiguation).

Belfast South
Borough constituency for the House of Commons
200px Boundary of Belfast South in Northern Ireland.
Districts of Northern Ireland	Belfast, Castlereagh
Electorate	60,914 (March 2011)
Current constituency
Created	1922
Member of parliament	Alasdair McDonnell (SDLP)
Number of members	One
Created from	Belfast Cromac, Belfast Ormeau
1885–1918
Number of members	One
Type of constituency	Borough constituency
Replaced by	Belfast Cromac, Belfast Ormeau
Created from	Belfast
Overlaps
European Parliament constituency	Northern Ireland

Belfast South is a parliamentary constituency in the United Kingdom House of Commons.

Boundaries

1950-1974: The County Borough of Belfast wards of Cromac, Ormeau, and Windsor.

1974-1983: The County Borough of Belfast wards of Cromac, Ormeau, and Windsor; the Rural District of Lisburn electoral divisions of Ardmore, Dunmurry, Finaghy, and Upper Malone; and the Rural District of Hillsborough electoral divisions of Breda and Edenderry.

1983-1997: The District of Belfast wards of Ballynafeigh, Cromac, Donegall, Finaghy, Malone, Ormeau, Rosetta, St George's, Stranmillis, University, Upper Malone, Willowfield, and Windsor.

1997-2010: The District of Belfast wards of Ballynafeigh, Blackstaff, Botanic, Finaghy, Malone, Musgrave, Ravenhill, Rosetta, Shaftesbury, Stranmillis, Upper Malone, Windsor, and Woodstock; and the District of Castlereagh wards of Beechill, Cairnshill, Galwally, Knockbracken, Minnowburn, and Newtownbreda.

2010-present: The District of Belfast wards of Ballynafeigh, Blackstaff, Botanic, Finaghy, Malone, Musgrave, Ravenhill, Rosetta, Shaftesbury, Stranmillis, Upper Malone, Windsor, and Woodstock; and the District of Castlereagh wards of Beechill, Cairnshill, Carryduff East, Carryduff West, Galwally, Hillfoot, Knockbracken, Minnowburn, Newtownbreda, and Wynchurch.

The seat was created in 1922 when, as part of the establishment of the devolved Stormont Parliament for Northern Ireland, the number of MPs in the Westminster Parliament was drastically cut. The seat is centred on the Belfast City Council districts of Balmoral, Laganbank and Pottinger and also contains part of the district of Castlereagh.

Prior to the 2010 general election the Boundary Commission proposed expanding Belfast South further into Castlereagh, taking in areas currently contained in both Strangford and Belfast East. This was strongly opposed by the DUP but supported by the Ulster Unionists. It was also one of the issues which generated the most negative comments in the written submissions with a petition representing half of Cregagh's residents opposing its move.

Following the local enquiries, the Boundary Commission proposed retaining the Cregagh ward in East Belfast while transferring instead the Hillfoot ward. These proposals were submitted as final recommendations and were put into force through the passing of the Northern Ireland Parliamentary Constituencies Order in 2008.

History

In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, Belfast South tended to elect 'rebel unionists' such as William Johnston, who famously defied a ban on Orange marches, and Thomas Sloan, founder of the Independent Orange Order.

Belfast South, centred on the River Lagan contains some of Belfast's most exclusive residential districts as well as Queen's University Belfast, and the overall tenor of the constituency is middle-class – young, trendy and cosmopolitan towards the city centre, with Northern Ireland's biggest concentrations of both students and ethnic minorities, and settled and prosperous further out. Despite this, significant pockets of inner-city working class areas such as the Markets and a number of isolated suburban estates are in the constituency.

There has been particularly rapid demographic change in Belfast South over the past 20 years, change which seems to be continuing. Since the 2011 census, Belfast South consists of a slightly larger Catholic population than Protestant. Belfast South traditionally had a unionist majority, but the nationalist vote has now surpassed this in more recent elections. There have also been strong votes for other parties such as the Alliance Party of Northern Ireland, the Conservatives and the Northern Ireland Women's Coalition. The seat has also seen a steady series of candidates backed by groups who aspire to support the British Labour Party despite its prior ban on membership and organisation in Northern Ireland, though their results have been minimal. Until the 1990s the main focus of attention has been on contests between unionist candidates.

In the February 1974 general election the seat was won by Robert Bradford of the Vanguard Progressive Unionist Party on a united anti-Sunningdale Agreement slate with the Ulster Unionist Party and the Democratic Unionist Party. He defeated Rafton Pounder, the sitting Unionist MP who defended his seat as a pro-Assembly unionist. Bradford held the seat for the next seven years, though in February 1978 he and the rump of Vanguard reunited with the Ulster Unionists. At the end of 1981 Bradford was assassinated by the IRA in a Belfast community centre while hosting a political surgery.

The subsequent by-election garnered much interest as it was expected that the Democratic Unionist Party would take the seat, building on their steady rise which had seen them gain both Belfast North and Belfast East at the previous general election. However, the DUP came third, behind the Alliance Party of Northern Ireland, and the UUP's candidate Martin Smyth won the seat, holding it until 2005. The by-election was extremely significant at the time in that it was the first at which the DUP tide ebbed.

In the 2001 general election less than 50% of voters voted for unionist parties for the first time in its history, but this has been attributed to a collapse in the vote for the small Progressive Unionist Party as well as to Smyth's fierce opposition to the Good Friday Agreement which is estimated to have sent many pro-Agreement unionist voters to vote tactically for the Social Democratic and Labour Party.

In January 2005 Smyth announced that he would be retiring at the 2005 general election, raising speculation both as to whom the Ulster Unionists would field in succession to him and what effect a different candidate would have upon their share of the vote. The UUP selected Assembly member Michael McGimpsey, albeit with a highly controversial and bitter selection. The aftermath saw McGimpsey repudiated by many prominent local and national Ulster Unionists, including both Smyth and former UUP leader James Molyneaux. The DUP selected Jimmy Spratt and offered an electoral pact to the UUP that would give each party a free run at one out of South Belfast and Fermanagh and South Tyrone. This offer was rejected by the UUP.

In the event, the DUP and UUP both fielded candidates which split the vote, while the nationalist vote mainly went for the SDLP over Sinn Féin, with the result that the SDLP took the seat despite a majority of votes cast for unionist candidates.

In 2010, Sinn Féin opted not to stand against the SDLP to avoid splitting the nationalist vote. This effort was successful as the SDLP won the seat with a majority of 6,000. This was the seat in which the Alliance Party had their second-best showing, polling 15% of the votes. Alasdair McDonnell retained the seat in May 2015, with only 24.5% of the vote. This is the smallest proportion of the vote a winning candidate has ever achieved in a UK general election, and smaller than the combined totals for the two main Unionist parties.

Members of Parliament

The Member of Parliament since the 2005 general election is Alasdair McDonnell of the Social Democratic and Labour Party. He succeeded the Rev Martin Smyth of the Ulster Unionist Party, who had sat for the seat from a by-election in 1982 until retiring at the 2005 election.

Election		Member	Party
	1885	William Johnston	Conservative
	1902	Thomas Henry Sloan	Independent Unionist
	1910	James Chambers	Ulster Unionist
	1917	William Arthur Lindsay	Ulster Unionist
1918		constituency abolished
1922		constituency recreated
	1922	Thomas Moles	Ulster Unionist
	1929	William John Stewart	Ulster Unionist
	1938		Progressive Unionist
	1945	Conolly Hugh Gage	Ulster Unionist
	1952	David Campbell	Ulster Unionist
	1963	Rafton Pounder	Ulster Unionist
	Feb 1974	Robert Bradford	Vanguard Unionist
	1977		Ulster Unionist
	1982	Martin Smyth	Ulster Unionist
	2005	Alasdair McDonnell	Social Democratic and Labour

Election results

Elections in the 2010s

General Election 2015: Belfast South

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	SDLP	Alasdair McDonnell	9,560	24.5	-16.5
	DUP	Jonathan Bell	8,654	22.2	-1.5
	Alliance	Paula Bradshaw	6,711	17.2	+2.3
	Sinn Féin	Máirtín Ó Muilleoir	5,402	13.9	N/A
	UUP	Rodney McCune	3,549	9.1	-8.2
	Green (NI)	Clare Bailey	2,238	5.7	+2.7
	UKIP	Bob Stoker	1,900	4.9	N/A
	NI Conservatives	Ben Manton	582	1.5	N/A
	Workers' Party	Lily Kerr	361	0.9	N/A
Majority			906	2.3	-15.0
Turnout			38,957	60.0	+2.6
	SDLP hold		Swing	-7.5

General Election 2010: Belfast South

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	SDLP	Alasdair McDonnell	14,026	41.0	+8.7
	DUP	Jimmy Spratt	8,100	23.7	-5.9
	UCU-NF	Paula Bradshaw	5,910	17.3	-4.9
	Alliance	Anna Lo	5,114	15.0	+7.7
	Green (NI)	Adam McGibbon	1,036	3.0	N/A
Majority			5,926	17.3
Turnout			34,186	57.4	-5.1
	SDLP hold		Swing

Elections in the 2000s

General Election 2005: Belfast South

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	SDLP	Alasdair McDonnell	10,339	32.3	+1.7
	DUP	Jimmy Spratt	9,104	28.4	N/A
	UUP	Michael McGimpsey	7,263	22.7	-22.1
	Sinn Féin	Alex Maskey	2,882	9.0	+1.4
	Alliance	Geraldine Rice	2,012	6.3	+0.9
	Rainbow Dream Ticket	Lynda Gilby	235	0.7	+0.4
	Workers' Party	Paddy Lynn	193	0.6	+0.1
Majority			1,235	3.9
Turnout			32,028	60.8	-3.1
	SDLP gain from UUP		Swing

General Election 2001: Belfast South

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	UUP	Martin Smyth	17,008	44.8	+8.8
	SDLP	Alasdair McDonnell	11,609	30.6	+6.3
	NI Women's Coalition	Monica McWilliams	2,968	7.8	0.0
	Sinn Féin	Alex Maskey	2,894	7.6	+2.5
	Alliance	Geraldine Rice	2,042	5.4	-7.6
	PUP	Dawn Purvis	1,112	2.9	-11.5
	Workers' Party	Paddy Lynn	204	0.5	-0.2
	Rainbow Dream Ticket	Rainbow George Weiss	115	0.3	N/A
Majority			5,399	14.2
Turnout			37,952	63.9	+1.6
	UUP hold		Swing

Elections in the 1990s

General Election 1997: Belfast South

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	UUP	Martin Smyth	14,201	36.0	-18.7
	SDLP	Alasdair McDonnell	9,601	24.3	+10.1
	PUP	David Ervine	5,687	14.4	N/A
	Alliance	Steve McBride	5,112	12.9	-2.8
	Sinn Féin	Seán Hayes	2,019	5.1	+2.6
	NI Women's Coalition	Annie Campbell	1,204	3.0	N/A
	Conservative	Myrtle Boal	962	2.4	-9.3
	Independent Labour	Niall Cusack	292	0.7	N/A
	Workers' Party	Paddy Lynn	286	0.7	N/A
	Natural Law	James Anderson	120	0.3	N/A
Majority			4,600
Turnout				62.2
	UUP hold		Swing

1997 Changes are compared to the 1992 notional results shown below.

Notional 1992 UK General Election Result : Belfast South

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	UUP	N/A	23,258	52.7	N/A
	Alliance	N/A	6,921	15.7	N/A
	SDLP	N/A	6,266	14.2	N/A
	Conservative	N/A	5,154	11.7	N/A
	Others	N/A	1,437	3.3	N/A
	Sinn Féin	N/A	1,116	2.5	N/A
Majority			16,337	37.0	N/A

General Election 1992: Belfast South

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	UUP	Martin Smyth	16,336	48.6
	SDLP	Alasdair McDonnell	6,266	18.7
	Alliance	John Montgomery	5,054	15.0
	Conservative	Andrew Fee	3,356	10.0
	Sinn Féin	Seán Hayes	1,123	3.3
	Labour and Trade Union	Peter Hadden	875	2.6
	Workers' Party	Paddy Lynn	362	1.1
	Natural Law	Teresa Mullen	212	0.6
Majority			10,070
Turnout				64.5
	UUP hold		Swing

Elections in the 1980s

General Election 1987: Belfast South

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	UUP	Martin Smyth	18,917	57.8
	Alliance	David Cook	6,963	21.3
	SDLP	Alasdair McDonnell	4,268	13.1
	Workers' Party	Gerry Carr	1,528	4.7
	Sinn Féin	Seán McKnight	1,030	3.2
Majority			11,954	36.6
Turnout				60.3
	UUP hold		Swing

By-election 23 January 1986: Belfast South

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	UUP	Martin Smyth	21,771	71.3
	Alliance	David Cook	7,635	25.0
	Workers' Party	Gerry Carr	1,109	3.6
Majority			14,136	46.3
Turnout				56.9
	UUP hold		Swing

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.

General Election 1983: Belfast South

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	UUP	Martin Smyth	18,669	50.0
	Alliance	David Cook	8,945	23.9
	DUP	Raymond McCrea	4,565	12.2
	SDLP	Alasdair McDonnell	3,216	8.6
	Sinn Féin	Sean McKnight	1,107	3.0
	Workers' Party	Gerry Carr	856	2.3
Majority			9,724	26.0
Turnout				69.6
	UUP hold		Swing

By-election 4 March 1982: Belfast South

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	UUP	Martin Smyth	17,123	39.3
	Alliance	David Cook	11,726	26.9
	DUP	William McCrea	9,818	22.6
	SDLP	Alasdair McDonnell	3,839	8.8
	Ulster Loyalist Democratic Party	John McMichael	576	1.3
	United Labour Party	Brian Caul	303	0.7
	One Human Family	Jagat Narain	137	0.3
	Peace State	Simon Hall-Raleigh	12	0.03
Majority			5,397	12.4
Turnout				66.2
	UUP hold		Swing

Elections in the 1970s

General Election 1979: Belfast South

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	UUP	Robert Jonathan Bradford	28,875	61.7
	Alliance	Basil Glass	11,745	25.1
	SDLP	Alasdair McDonnell	3,694	7.9
	Unionist Party NI	Victor Brennan	1,784	3.8	N/A
	Labour Integrationist	Jeffrey Dudgeon	692	1.5	N/A
Majority			17,130	36.6
Turnout				67.9
	UUP hold		Swing

General Election October 1974: Belfast South

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Vanguard	Robert Jonathan Bradford	30,116	59.2
	Alliance	John Glass	11,715	23.0
	Independent Unionist	Stanley McMaster	4,982	9.8	N/A
	SDLP	Ben Caraher	2,390	4.7
	NI Labour	Erskine Holmes	1,643	3.2
Majority			18,401	36.2
Turnout			50,846	67.7
	Vanguard hold		Swing

General Election February 1974: Belfast South

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Vanguard	Robert Jonathan Bradford	22,083	42.6	N/A
	Pro-Assembly Unionist	Rafton Pounder	18,085	34.9
	Alliance	David Cook	5,118	9.9	N/A
	SDLP	Ben Caraher	4,149	8.0	N/A
	NI Labour	Erskine Holmes	2,455	4.7
Majority			3,998	7.7
Turnout			51,890	69.6
	Vanguard gain from UUP		Swing

General Election 1970: Belfast South

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	UUP	Rafton Pounder	27,523	70.4
	NI Labour	John Coulthard	11,567	29.6
Majority			15,956	40.8
Turnout			39,090	68.4
	UUP hold		Swing

Elections in the 1960s

General Election 1966: Belfast South

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	UUP	Rafton Pounder	23,329	65.4
	NI Labour	Erskine Holmes	12,364	34.6
Majority			10,965	30.7
Turnout			35,693	63.3
	UUP hold		Swing

General Election 1964: Belfast South

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	UUP	Rafton Pounder	27,422	69.8
	NI Labour	John Barkley	8,792	22.4
	Liberal	Judith Rosenfield	1,941	4.9
	Independent Republican	Robert McKnight	1,159	3.0
Majority			18,630	47.4
Turnout			39,314	68.3
	UUP hold		Swing

Belfast South by-election, 1963

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	UUP	Rafton Pounder	17,989
	NI Labour	Norman Searight	7,209
	Liberal	Albert Hamilton	2,774
Majority			10,780
Turnout
	UUP hold		Swing

Elections in the 1950s

General Election 1959: Belfast South

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	UUP	David Campbell	30,164	69.9
	NI Labour	Norman Searight	9,318	21.6
	Liberal	Sheelagh Murnaghan	3,253	7.5
	Sinn Féin	Brendan O'Reilly	434	1.0
Majority			20,846	48.3
Turnout			43,169	72.1
	UUP hold		Swing

General Election 1955: Belfast South

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	UUP	David Campbell	33,392	78.4
	NI Labour	Edward Brown	7,508	17.6
	Sinn Féin	Patrick Kearney	1,679	3.9
Majority			25,884	60.8
Turnout			42,579	65.7
	UUP hold		Swing

Belfast South by-election, 1952

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	UUP	David Campbell	23,067	75.1
	NI Labour	Samuel Napier	7,655	24.9
Majority			15,412
Turnout				46.4
	UUP hold		Swing

General Election 1951: Belfast South

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	UUP	Hugh Gage	37,046	75.8
	NI Labour	Robert McBrinn	11,815	24.2
Majority			25,231	51.6
Turnout			48,861	73.8
	UUP hold		Swing

General Election 1950: Belfast South

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	UUP	Hugh Gage	34,620	75.2
	NI Labour	James McKernan	11,428	24.8
Majority			23,192	50.4
Turnout			46,048	69.3
	UUP hold		Swing

Elections in the 1940s

General Election 1945: Belfast South

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	UUP	Conolly Hugh Gage	24,282	52.2
	Commonwealth Labour	Harry Midgley	14,096	30.3
	NI Labour	James Morrow	8,166	17.5
Majority			10,186	21.9
Turnout			46,544	66.4
	UUP hold		Swing

Elections in the 1930s

General Election 1935: Belfast South

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	UUP	William Stewart	Unopposed	N/A	N/A
	UUP hold		Swing	N/A

General Election 1931: Belfast South

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	UUP	William Stewart	Unopposed	N/A	N/A
	UUP hold		Swing	N/A

Elections in the 1920s

General Election 1929: Belfast South

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	UUP	William John Stewart	24,019	62.9	n/a
	Independent Unionist	Philip James Woods	14,148	37.1	n/a
Majority			9,871	25.9	n/a
Turnout			38,167	64.7	n/a
	UUP hold		Swing	n/a

General Election 1924: Belfast South

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	UUP	Thomas Moles	Unopposed	N/A	N/A
	UUP hold		Swing	N/A

General Election 1923: Belfast South

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	UUP	Thomas Moles	Unopposed	N/A	N/A
	UUP hold		Swing	N/A

General Election 1922: Belfast South

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	UUP	Thomas Moles	Unopposed	N/A	N/A
	UUP hold		Swing	N/A

Elections in the 1910s

Belfast South by-election, July 1917: Belfast South

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Irish Unionist	William Arthur Lindsay	Unopposed	N/A	N/A
	Irish Unionist hold		Swing	N/A

Belfast South by-election, April 1917: Belfast South

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Irish Unionist	James Chambers	Unopposed	N/A	N/A
	Irish Unionist hold		Swing	N/A

General Election December 1910: Belfast South

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Irish Unionist	James Chambers	5,585
	Independent Unionist	Thomas Henry Sloan	2,722
Majority			2,863
Turnout			8,307	78.2
	Irish Unionist hold		Swing

General Election January 1910: Belfast South

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Irish Unionist	James Chambers	5,772
	Independent Unionist	Thomas Henry Sloan	3,553
Majority			2,219
Turnout			9,325	87.8
	Irish Unionist gain from Independent Unionist		Swing

Elections in the 1900s

General Election 1906: Belfast South

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Independent Unionist	Thomas Henry Sloan	4,450		N/A
	Irish Unionist	Lord Arthur Hill	3,634		N/A
Majority			816		N/A
Turnout			8,084	84.8	N/A
	Independent Unionist gain from Conservative		Swing	N/A

Belfast South by-election, 1902

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Independent Unionist	Thomas Henry Sloan	3,795		N/A
	Conservative	C. W. Dunbar Buller	2,969		N/A
Majority			826		N/A
Turnout			6,764	60.1	N/A
	Independent Unionist gain from Conservative		Swing

General Election 1900: Belfast South

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	William Johnston	Unopposed	N/A	N/A
	Conservative hold		Swing	N/A

Elections in the 1890s

General Election 1895: Belfast South

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	William Johnston	Unopposed	N/A	N/A
	Conservative hold		Swing	N/A

General Election 1892: Belfast South

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	William Johnston	Unopposed	N/A	N/A
	Conservative hold		Swing	N/A

Elections in the 1880s

General Election 1886: Belfast South

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	William Johnston	4,442
	Irish Parliamentary	A. McErlean	657
Majority			3,785
Turnout
	Conservative hold		Swing

General Election 1885: Belfast South

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	William Johnston	3,610
	Irish Parliamentary	J. W. Workman	990
	Conservative	R. Seeds	871
Majority			2,620
Turnout
	Conservative hold		Swing

See also

• List of Parliamentary constituencies in Northern Ireland

References

4. Correction: Clare Bailey, Green Party in Northern Ireland (not Green Party of England and Wales)

Further reading

• F. W. S. Craig, British Parliamentary Election Results 1918 – 1949
• F. W. S. Craig, British Parliamentary Election Results 1950 – 1970
• The Liberal Year Book For 1917, Liberal Publication Department
• The Constitutional Year Book For 1912, Conservative Central Office
• The Constitutional Year Book For 1894, Conservative Central Office

External links

• BBC News, Election 2005
• BBC News, Vote 2001
• Guardian Unlimited Politics
• Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "B" (part 2)
• http://www.psr.keele.ac.uk/ (Election results from 1951 to the present)