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Strangford County constituency
Strangford shown within Northern Ireland
Created:	1983
MP:	Iris Robinson
Party:	Democratic Unionist
Type:	House of Commons
Districts:	Ards, Catlereagh, Down
EP constituency:	Northern Ireland

Strangford is a Parliamentary Constituency in the United Kingdom House of Commons.

Contents 1 Boundaries 1.1 Boundary changes 2 History 3 Members of Parliament 4 Election results

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 North Down. In 1995, the Commission controversially recommended abolishing the constituency and dividing it between North Down and new constituencies of Mid Down and Castlereagh & Newtownards. This was successfully opposed in local enquiries and since 1995 it is now made up of parts of the districts of Ards, Castlereagh and Down.

Despite the name the seat does not currently contain the town of Strangford which is instead a part of South Down.

Boundary changes

Initially the Northern Ireland Boundary Commission published provisional recommendations for modifying the boundaries of Strangford. This included changes to the boundary between two of Belfast's constituencies and Strangford, and the renaming of the seat as Mid Down.

Following consultation, the electoral districts to make up the constituency to be fought at the next UK general election are as follows;Northern Ireland Parliamentary Constituencies Order

• Ballygowan, Ballyrainey, Ballywalter, Bradshaw’s Brae, Carrowdore, Central, Comber East, Comber North, Comber West, Glen, Gregstown, Killinchy, Kircubbin, Lisbane, Loughries, Movilla, Portaferry, Portavogie, Scrabo, and Whitespots, from the Ards district.
• From the Down district; Ballymaglave, Ballynahinch East, Derryboy, Killyleagh, Kilmore, and Saintfield
• The Moneyreagh ward from Castlereagh district

History

For the history of the equivalent constituencies prior to 1950 please see Down (UK Parliament constituency) and from 1950 until 1983, please see North Down (UK Parliament constituency).

The constituency is overwhelmingly unionist, with the combined votes for nationalist parties rarely exceeding 10%. However there have been significant votes for parties outside the traditional unionist block, such as the Alliance and the Conservatives, whilst the UK Unionist Party has also polled well here, challenging the two main unionist parties. At the local level independent council candidates have polled well.

The main interest in elections has been the contest between the Ulster Unionist Party and the Democratic Unionist Party. Until 2001 the UUP were clearly ahead of the DUP in the Westminster elections, but elections to regional assemblies and local government were much closed. In 2001 the sitting MP John Taylor stood down and the contest to succeed him was fierce. The seat was won by Iris Robinson for the Democratic Unionist Party and the subsequent 2003 assembly election saw the DUP increase their vote further. There is scepticism as to whether the UUP can retake the seat, though the proposed boundary changes may alter matters.

Members of Parliament

The Member of Parliament since the 2001 general election is Iris Robinson of the Democratic Unionist Party. She succeeded John Taylor of the Ulster Unionist Party.

• Constituency created (1983)
• 1983 — John Taylor, Ulster Unionist
• 2001 — present: Iris Robinson, Democratic Unionist

Election results

General Election 2005: Strangford
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Democratic Unionist	Iris Robinson	20,921	56.5	+13.7
	Ulster Unionist	Gareth McGimpsey	7,872	21.3	-19.0
	Alliance	Kieran McCarthy	3,332	9.0	+2.3
	Social Democratic and Labour	Joe Boyle	2,496	6.7	+0.6
	Conservative	Terry Dick	1,462	3.9	N/A
	Sinn Féin	Dermot Kennedy	949	2.6	+0.4
Majority			13,049	35.2
Turnout			37,032	53.6	-6.3
	Democratic Unionist hold		Swing	+16.4

General Election 2001: Strangford
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Democratic Unionist	Iris Robinson	18,532	42.8	+12.6
	Ulster Unionist	David McNarry	17,422	40.3	-4.0
	Alliance	Kieran McCarthy	2,902	6.7	-6.4
	Social Democratic and Labour	Danny McCarthy	2,646	6.1	-0.6
	Sinn Féin	Liam Johnston	930	2.2	+0.9
	NI Unionist	Cedric Wilson	822	1.9	N/A
Majority			1,110	2.5
Turnout			43,254	59.9	+0.4
	Democratic Unionist gain from Ulster Unionist		Swing

General Election 1997: Strangford
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Ulster Unionist	John Taylor	18,431	44.3	+ 0.7
	Democratic Unionist	Iris Robinson	12,579	30.2	+ 6.5
	Alliance	Kieran McCarthy	5,467	13.1	- 3.8
	Social Democratic and Labour	Peter O'Reilly	2,775	6.7	N/A
	Conservative	Gilbert Chalk	1,743	4.2	- 10.9
	Sinn Féin	Garret O'Fachtna	503	1.2	N/A
	Natural Law	Sarah Mullins	121	0.3	- 0.4
Majority			5,852	14.1	- 5.8
Turnout			41,619	59.5	- 5.5
	Ulster Unionist hold		Swing

Notional 1992 Election Result: Strangford
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Ulster Unionist	N/A	20,473	49.0	N/A
	Democratic Unionist	N/A	8,295	19.9	N/A
	Alliance	N/A	6,736	16.1	N/A
	Conservative	N/A	5,945	14.2	N/A
	Others	N/A	295	0.7	N/A
Majority			12,178	29.2	N/A

General Election 1992: Strangford
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Ulster Unionist	John Taylor	19,517	43.6
	Democratic Unionist	Sammy Wilson	10,606	23.7
	Alliance	Kieran McCarthy	7,585	16.9
	Conservative	Stephen Eyre	6,782	15.1	N/A
	Natural Law	David Shaw	295	0.7	N/A
Majority			8,911	19.9
Turnout			44,785	65.0
	Ulster Unionist hold		Swing

General Election 1987: Strangford
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Ulster Unionist	John Taylor	28,199	75.9
	Alliance	Addie Morrow	7,553	20.3
	Workers' Party	Imelda Hynds	1,385	3.7	N/A
Majority			20,646	55.6
Turnout			37,137	57.6
	Ulster Unionist hold		Swing

Strangford by-election, 1986
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Ulster Unionist	John Taylor	32,627	94.2
	"For the Anglo-Irish Agreement"	"Peter Barry"	1,993	5.8
Majority			30,634	88.5
Turnout			34,620	55.0
	Ulster Unionist hold		Swing

General Election 1983: Strangford
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Ulster Unionist	John Taylor	19,086	48.8	N/A
	Democratic Unionist	Simpson Gibson	11,716	30.0	N/A
	Alliance	Addie Morrow	6,171	15.8	N/A
	Social Democratic and Labour	James Curry	1,713	4.4	N/A
	Independent Labour	Samuel Heath	430	1.1	N/A
Majority			7,370	18.8	N/A
Turnout			39,116	64.9	N/A
	Ulster Unionist hold		Swing	N/A

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