East Antrim is a parliamentary constituency in the United Kingdom House of Commons. The MP is Sammy Wilson of the Democratic Unionist Party.
The constituency of East Antrim is used for elections to the Northern Ireland Assembly.
Constituency profile
left|200px|thumb|Carrickfergus Castle
The seat covers the east coast from Cushendun down to Carrickfergus. The seat is strongly unionist and one of the few areas of Northern Ireland which voted to leave the European Union.
It was not affected by the Redistribution of Seats (Ireland) Act 1918. Sinn Féin contested the 1918 general election on an abstentionist platform in its election manifesto pledging that instead of taking up any seats at Westminster, they would establish an assembly in Dublin. All MPs elected to Irish seats were invited to participate in the First Dáil convened in January 1919, but no members outside of Sinn Féin did so.
The Government of Ireland Act 1920 established the Parliament of Northern Ireland, which came into operation in 1921. The representation of Northern Ireland in the Parliament of the United Kingdom was reduced from 30 MPs to 13 MPs, taking effect at the 1922 United Kingdom general election. At Westminster, the four divisions of County Antrim were replaced by a two-member county constituency of Antrim. A seven-seat constituency of Antrim was created for the House of Commons of Northern Ireland, which formed the basis in republican theory for representation in the 2nd Dáil. Under the Representation of the People Act 1948, all two-member constituencies were divided. Antrim was divided into the county constituencies of North Antrim and South Antrim.
The constituency of East Antrim was recreated in 1983, from parts of North Antrim and South Antrim, as part of an expansion of Northern Ireland's constituencies from 12 to 17.
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 and 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. The constituency boundaries were amended again by the 2023 review of Westminster constituencies, and first contested at the 2024 general election.
{| class=wikitable
|-
|1983–1997
|The districts of Carrickfergus and Larne; and
in the district of Newtownabbey, the wards of Bradan, Cloughfern, Coole, Dunanney, Hopefield, Monkstown, Rostulla, Whiteabbey, and Whitehouse.
|-
|1997–2010
|The districts of Carrickfergus and Larne; and
in the district of Newtownabbey, the wards of Cloughfern, Jordanstown, Monkstown, and Rostulla.
|-
|2010–2024
|The districts of Carrickfergus and Larne;
in the district of Moyle, the wards of Glenaan, Glenariff, and Glendun; and
in the district of Newtownabbey, the wards of Jordanstown, Monkstown, and Rostulla.
|-
|2024–
|In Antrim and Newtownabbey, the part of the Abbey ward to the north of the northern boundary of the 2010–2024 Belfast North constituency, and the wards of Jordanstown, Monkstown, and Rostulla;
and in Mid and East Antrim the wards of Ballycarry and Glynn, Boneybefore, Burleigh Hill, Cairncastle, Carnlough and Glenarm, Castle, Craigyhill, Curran and Inver, Gardenmore, Glenravel, Glenwhirry, Gortalee, Greenisland, Islandmagee, Kilroot, Kilwaughter, Love Lane, Slemish, Sunnylands, The Maidens, Victoria, Whitehead South, and Woodburn.
|}
Members of Parliament
The Member of Parliament since the 2005 general election is Sammy Wilson of the Democratic Unionist Party. In that election he defeated Roy Beggs of the Ulster Unionist Party, who had sat for the seat since it was created at the 1983 general election.
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Election !! MP!!colspan=2|Party
|-
| 1885
| James McCalmont
|
|-
| 1913
| Robert McCalmont
|
|-
| 1919
| George Hanna
|
|-
|1922
|colspan="3"| constituency abolished
|-
|1983
|colspan="3"| constituency recreated
|-
| 1983
| Roy Beggs
|
|-
| 2005
| Sammy Wilson
|
|}
Election results
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