1951 United Kingdom general election in Northern Ireland

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1951 United Kingdom general election in Northern Ireland
Flag of the United Kingdom.svg
  1950 25 October 1951 1955  

12 seats in Northern Ireland of the 625 seats in the House of Commons
 First partySecond partyThird party
  No image.svg No image.svg No image.svg
Leader Sir Basil Brooke, Bt James McSparran William Norton
Party Ulster Unionist Nationalist Irish Labour
Leader since194319451932
Leader's seatDid not stand [fn 1] Did not stand [fn 2] Did not stand [fn 3]
Seats won911
Seat changeDecrease2.svg 1Decrease2.svg 1Increase2.svg 1

 Fourth party
  No image.svg
Party Independent Nationalist
Seats won1
Seat changeIncrease2.svg 1

The 1951 United Kingdom general election in Northern Ireland was held on 25 October as part of the wider general election with 12 MPs elected in single-seat constituencies using first-past-the-post.

Contents

Results

The Ulster Unionists lost one seat to Jack Beattie, formerly an Independent Labour MP but now standing for the Irish Labour Party. Four Ulster Unionist candidates were returned unopposed, the last UK general election in which any candidates were so returned. [1] The Nationalists also lost one seat to retirement. It was gained by Michael O'Neill, an independent Nationalist. [2]

In the election as a whole, the Labour Party government led by Clement Attlee, which had won with a narrow majority in the previous election, lost out to the Conservative Party, which included the Ulster Unionists, led by Sir Winston Churchill, who returned as Prime Minister.

Results [3]
PartyMPsChangeUncontestedVotes [4]  % [4]
Ulster Unionist 9Decrease2.svg 14274,92859.4
Irish Labour Party 1Increase2.svg 1033,1747.2
Independent Nationalist 1Increase2.svg 1033,0947.1
Nationalist 1Decrease2.svg 1032,7177.1
Northern Ireland Labour Party 0Steady2.svg062,32413.5
Independent Republican 0Steady2.svg026,9765.8
Total12Steady2.svg4463,213100

MPs elected

ConstituencyPartyMP
Antrim North Ulster Unionist Hugh O'Neill
Antrim South Ulster Unionist Douglas Savory
Armagh Ulster Unionist Richard Harden
Belfast East Ulster Unionist Alan McKibbin
Belfast North Ulster Unionist H. Montgomery Hyde
Belfast South Ulster Unionist Conolly Gage
Belfast West Irish Labour Jack Beattie
Down North Ulster Unionist Walter Smiles
Down South Ulster Unionist Lawrence Orr
Fermanagh and South Tyrone Nationalist Cahir Healy
Londonderry Ulster Unionist William Wellwood
Ulster Mid Ind. Nationalist Michael O'Neill

Footnotes

  1. Brooke sat as the MP for Lisnaskea in the Northern Ireland Parliament.
  2. McSparran sat as the MP for Mourne in the Northern Ireland Parliament.
  3. Norton sat as a TD for Kildare in Dáil Éireann.

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References

  1. "General Election Results 1885–1979". election.demon.co.uk. Archived from the original on 23 February 2008. Retrieved 26 November 2020 via Wayback Machine.
  2. F. W. S. Craig. British Parliamentary Election Results: 1950-1970. p. 686.
  3. "Elections to the United Kingdom Parliament held in Northern Ireland: General Election 1951". ElectionsIreland.org. Archived from the original on 12 January 2019. Retrieved 12 January 2019.
  4. 1 2 Rallings, Colin; Thrasher, Michael (2006). British Electoral Facts. Ashgate. p. 37.