Newry and Armagh (UK Parliament constituency)

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Newry and Armagh is a Parliamentary Constituency in the House of Commons and also an Assembly constituency in the Northern Ireland Assembly.

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 the old Armagh constituency with the addition of Newry town from the old South Down constituency. In boundary changes in 1995 the seat was barely changed. It contains the entirity of Armagh district and the Newry half of Newry and Mourne district.

Proposed Boundary changes

At the time of writing the Boundary Commission has published provisional recommendations for modifying the boundaries of constituencies in Northern Ireland. For Newry and Armagh, it proposes to transfer part of Newry to South Down. It is possible that this will be challenged in a round of public consultations or that the constituency name may be modified.

History

For the history of the equivalent constituency prior to 1983, please see Armagh (constituency).

The constituency is overwhelmingly nationalist, though initially on its creation in 1983 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. However the nationalist parties contested the seat and Seamus Mallon of the SDLP gained sufficient votes to outpoll Nicholson and win the seat. Mallon held it until his retirement in 2005.

The unionist vote in the constituency has declined somewhat in recent years, with the shift being more marked as both the Ulster Unionist Party and the Democratic Unionist Party now stand. The main attention has been upon the rise of the Sinn Féin vote. In the 2001 they surged forward, cutting Mallon's majority drastically, as well as heavily outpolling the SDLP in the equivalent area local elections held on the same day. Then in the 2003 Assembly election Sinn Féin won three seats to the SDLP's one. Mallon stood down at the 2005 general election and, as widely predicted, the seat fell to Sinn Féin.

Westminster elections

Members of Parliament

The Member of Parliament since the 2005 general election is Conor Murphy of Sinn Féin. He succeeded Seamus Mallon of the Social Democratic and Labour Party, who stood down at that election, having represented the seat since a by-election in 1986.

• Constituency created (1983)
• 1983 — 1986: Jim Nicholson, Ulster Unionist
• 1986 — 2005: Seamus Mallon, Social Democratic and Labour
• 2005 — present: Conor Murphy, Sinn Féin

Election results

General Election 2005: Newry and Armagh

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Sinn Féin	Conor Murphy	20,965	41.4	+10.5
	SDLP	Dominic Bradley	12,770	25.2	−12.2
	DUP	Paul Berry	9,311	18.4	−1.0
	UUP	Danny Kennedy	7,025	13.9	+1.6
	Independent	Gerry Markey	625	1.2	+1.2
Majority			8,195	16.2
Turnout			50,696	70.0	−6.8
	Sinn Féin gain from SDLP		Swing	+11.3

General Election 2001: Newry and Armagh

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	SDLP	Seamus Mallon	20,784	37.4	−5.6
	Sinn Féin	Conor Murphy	17,209	30.9	+9.9
	DUP	Paul Berry	10,795	19.4
	UUP	Sylvia McRoberts	6,833	12.3	−21.5
Majority			3,575	6.5
Turnout			55,621	76.8	+1.3
	SDLP hold		Swing

Assembly and Forum elections

The six MLAs for the constituency elected in the 2003 election are:

• Paul Berry Democratic Unionist Party
• Dominic Bradley Social Democratic and Labour Party
• Davy Hyland Sinn Féin
• Danny Kennedy Ulster Unionist Party
• Conor Murphy Sinn Féin
• Patricia O'Rawe Sinn Féin

Changes 2003-present

• Paul Berry was suspended from the DUP following an internal disciplinary panel meeting and media coverage of his private life on July 4 2005.

In the 1998 election the six MLAs elected were:

• Paul Berry Democratic Unionist Party
• John Fee Social Democratic and Labour Party
• Danny Kennedy Ulster Unionist Party
• Seamus Mallon Social Democratic and Labour Party
• Patrick McNamee Sinn Féin
• Conor Murphy Sinn Féin

In the 1996 election to the Northern Ireland Peace Forum, 5 Forum members were elected from Newry & Armagh. They were as follows:

• Maria Caraher Sinn Féin
• Frank Feeley Social Democratic and Labour Party
• Danny Kennedy Ulster Unionist Party
• Seamus Mallon Social Democratic and Labour Party
• Patrick McNamee Sinn Féin

See also

• List of Parliamentary constituencies in Northern Ireland