Newry and Armagh is a parliamentary constituency in the United Kingdom House of Commons. The current MP is Dáire Hughes of Sinn Féin who was first elected at the 2024 election.
History
The constituency is majority nationalist, though on its creation at the 1983 general election, Jim Nicholson of the Ulster Unionist Party won the seat due to the nationalist vote being divided between the Social Democratic and Labour Party and Sinn Féin. In 1986, Nicholson, along with all the other unionist MPs, resigned his seat in protest over the Anglo-Irish Agreement and stood in a by-election to provide voters the opportunity to decide on it. Seamus Mallon won the seat and held it at successive elections until his retirement in 2005.
In the 2001 general election, Sinn Féin cut into Mallon's majority, outpolling the SDLP in the equivalent area local elections held on the same day. In the 2003 Assembly election Sinn Féin won three seats to the SDLP's one. When Mallon retired in 2005 Sinn Féin won the seat.
Newry is overwhelmingly nationalist, and was one of two districts in Northern Ireland to return a numerical majority of people identifying themselves as "Irish" at the 2011 census at 52.1% Irish.
Armagh is more unionist, though it does have a larger proportion of people identifying as "Irish" in comparison to the Northern Ireland average at 44.4% "British" and 32.4% "Irish".
Boundaries
The seat was created after boundary changes in 1983, as part of an expansion of Northern Ireland's constituencies from 12 to 17, from areas which had been part of the Armagh and South Down constituencies.
In 1995, the Boundary Commission originally proposed to abolish the seat with the Armagh district joining most of Dungannon in a new 'Blackwater' constituency with the rest becoming part of a new Newry and Mourne constituency. This was strongly opposed during the local enquiries and the eventual boundary review did not implement it.
{| class=wikitable
|-
|1983–1997
|The district of Armagh; and
in the district of Newry and Mourne, the wards of Ballybot, Belleek, Bessbrook, Camlough, Creggan, Crossmaglen, Daisy Hill, Derrymore, Drumalane, Drumgullion, Fathom, Forkhill, Newtownhamilton, St Mary's, St Patrick's, Tullyhappy, and Windsor Hill.
|-
|1997–2024
|The district of Armagh; and
in the district of Newry and Mourne, the wards of Ballybot, Bessbrook, Camlough, Creggan, Crossmaglen, Daisy Hill, Derrymore, Drumalane, Drumgullion, Fathom, Forkhill, Newtownhamilton, St Mary's, St Patrick's, Silver Bridge, Tullyhappy and Windsor Hill.
|-
|2024–
|In Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon, the wards of Cathedral, Demesne, Hamiltonsbawn, Keady, Markethill, Navan, Richhill, Seagahan, Tandragee, and The Mall;
and in Newry, Mourne and Down, the wards of Abbey, Ballybot, Bessbrook, Camlough, Crossmaglen, Damolly, Drumalane, Fathom, Forkhill, Mullaghbane, Newtownhamilton, St. Patricks, and Whitecross.
|}
Members of Parliament
Seamus Mallon, the MP from 1986 to 2005, served as deputy leader of the SDLP from 1979 to 2001 and deputy First Minister of Northern Ireland from 1998 to 2001.
{| class="wikitable"
|-
!Election!!Member
!colspan="2"|Party
|-
| 1983
| Jim Nicholson
|
|-
| 1986 b
| rowspan=5|Seamus Mallon
|
|-
| 1987
|-
| 1992
|-
| 1997
|-
| 2001
|-
| 2005
| rowspan=2|Conor Murphy
|
|-
| 2010
|-
| 2015
| rowspan=3|Mickey Brady
|-
| 2017
|-
| 2019
|-
| 2024
| Dáire Hughes
|}
Election results
thumb
Elections in the 2020s
Elections in the 2010s
Elections in the 2000s
Elections in the 1990s
1997 Changes are compared to the 1992 notional results shown below.
Elections in the 1980s
See also
- List of parliamentary constituencies in Northern Ireland
- Newry and Armagh (Assembly constituency)
References
External links
- 2017 Election House of Commons Library 2017 Election report
- A Vision Of Britain Through Time (Constituency elector numbers)
- Politics Resources
- Newry and Armagh UK Parliament constituency (boundaries April 2010 – May 2024) at MapIt UK
- Newry and Armagh UK Parliament constituency (boundaries from June 2024) at MapIt UK