1979 United Kingdom general election in Northern Ireland
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12 seats in Northern Ireland of the 635 seats in the House of Commons | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The 1979 United Kingdom general election in Northern Ireland was held on 3 May with 12 MPs elected in single-seat constituencies using first-past-the-post as part of the wider general election in the United Kingdom.
Results
The election was after Labour Party prime minister James Callaghan lost a vote of confidence by 311 votes to 310. The election was won by the Conservative Party led by Margaret Thatcher, and began a period of 18-year government by the party.
Ulster Unionist leader Harry West failed to win a seat for the second time, and would resign later that year after failing to win a seat at the first European Parliament election. The Democratic Unionist Party increased its representation, and the Vanguard Unionist Progressive Party had disbanded.
Frank Maguire was re-elected as an Independent Nationalist, beating the leaders of both the UUP and the new United Ulster Unionist Party, as well as Austin Currie, a member of the SDLP standing without the support of the party. Maguire's death on 5 March 1981 led by a by-election won by Bobby Sands, an IRA prisoner who died later that year as a result of a hunger strike. The Representation of the People Act 1981 disqualified prisoners detained for more than a year from membership of the House of Commons, so the resulting by-election was contested by Sands's election agent Owen Carron, rather than by another prisoner on hunger strike.
Party | MPs | Votes | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
No. | Change | No. | % | Change | ||
UUP | 5 | ![]() | 254,578 | 36.6% | ![]() | |
DUP | 3 | ![]() | 70,795 | 10.2% | ![]() | |
SDLP | 1 | ![]() | 126,235 | 18.2% | ![]() | |
UUUP | 1 | New | 39,856 | 5.7% | ![]() | |
Ind. Unionist | 1 | ![]() | 36,989 | 5.3% | ![]() | |
Independent Nationalist | 1 | ![]() | 22,398 | 3.2% | ![]() | |
Alliance | 0 | ![]() | 82,892 | 11.9% | ![]() | |
Irish Independence | 0 | New | 23,086 | 3.3% | ![]() | |
Republican Clubs | 0 | ![]() | 12,098 | 1.7% | ![]() | |
Independent SDLP | 0 | ![]() | 10,795 | 1.6% | ![]() | |
Unionist Party NI | 0 | ![]() | 8,021 | 1.2% | ![]() | |
NI Labour | 0 | ![]() | 4,411 | 0.6% | ![]() | |
United Labour | 0 | ![]() | 1,895 | 0.3% | ![]() | |
Independent or other | 0 | ![]() | 1,578 | 0.2% | ![]() | |
Total | 12 | ![]() | 695,627 | 100 | ![]() |
MPs elected
Constituency | Party | MP | |
---|---|---|---|
Antrim North | DUP | Ian Paisley | |
Antrim South | UUP | James Molyneaux | |
Armagh | UUP | Harold McCusker | |
Belfast East | DUP | Peter Robinson | |
Belfast North | DUP | John McQuade | |
Belfast South | UUP | Robert Bradford | |
Belfast West | SDLP | Gerry Fitt | |
Down North | Ind. Unionist | Jim Kilfedder | |
Down South | UUP | Enoch Powell | |
Fermanagh and South Tyrone | Independent Nationalist | Frank Maguire | |
Londonderry | UUP | William Ross | |
Mid Ulster | UUUP | John Dunlop |
By-elections
Constituency | Date | Incumbent | Party | Winner | Party | Cause | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Fermanagh and South Tyrone | 9 April 1981 | Frank Maguire | Independent Nationalist | Bobby Sands | Anti H-Block | Death | ||
Fermanagh and South Tyrone | 20 August 1981 | Bobby Sands | Anti H-Block | Owen Carron | Anti H-Block | Death from hunger strike | ||
Belfast South | 4 March 1982 | Robert Bradford | UUP | Martin Smyth | UUP | Killed by the IRA |
References
- ^ "Elections to the United Kingdom Parliament held in Northern Ireland: General Election 3 May 1979". ElectionsIreland.org. Archived from the original on 22 December 2017. Retrieved 9 March 2019.
- ^ "Westminster election, 3 May 1979". ARK: Northern Ireland Elections. Archived from the original on 19 December 2018. Retrieved 9 March 2019.
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- MPs elected
- Scotland
- Wales
- Opinion polling
- Incumbent prime minister: James Callaghan (Labour)
- Appointed prime minister: Margaret Thatcher (Conservative)
the House of Commons
- Conservative (Margaret Thatcher)
- Labour (James Callaghan)
- Liberal (David Steel)
- Ulster Unionist Party (Harry West)
- Democratic Unionist Party (Ian Paisley)
- Scottish National Party (William Wolfe)
- Plaid Cymru (Gwynfor Evans)
- Social Democratic and Labour Party (Gerry Fitt)
- United Ulster Unionist Party (Ernest Baird)
- Ulster Popular Unionist Party (James Kilfedder)
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