1951 United Kingdom general election in Northern Ireland

Main article: 1951 United Kingdom general election

1951 United Kingdom general election in Northern Ireland

←  1950 25 October 1951 1955  →
12 seats in Northern Ireland of the 625 seats in the House of Commons
First party Second party Third party   Nat Leader Sir Basil Brooke, Bt William Norton James McSparran Party UUP Irish Labour Nationalist Alliance Conservative Leader since 1943 1932 1945 Leader's seat Sat in Stormont Sat in Dáil Éireann Sat in Stormont Seats won 9 [a] 1 1 Seat change 1 1 1 Popular vote 274,928 [b] 33,174 [b] 32,714 [b] Percentage 59.4% 7.7% 7.6% Swing 3.4% 4.5% 2.2%

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.

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.

1951 United Kingdom general election in Northern Ireland [3]
Party		Candidates						Votes
		Stood	Elected	Gained	Unseated	Net	% of total	%	No.	Net %
	UUP	12	9 [a]	0	1	-1	75.0	59.4	274,928	-3.4
	NI Labour	4	0	0	0	0	—	13.5	62,324	+1.4
	Labour	1	1	1	0	+1	8.3	7.2	33,174	-2.2
	Ind. Nationalist	1	1	1	0	+1	8.3	7.1	33,097	+7.1
	Nationalist	1	1	0	1	-1	8.3	7.1	32,714	-4.5
	Ind. Republican	1	0	0	0	0	—	5.8	26,976	+1.9

MPs elected

Constituency	Party		MP
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

Notes

1. Includes 4 members elected unopposed.
2. Voting took place in 8 of 12 seats.
   The other MPs were unopposed.

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.