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12 seats in Northern Ireland of the 630 seats in the House of Commons | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The 1955 United Kingdom general election in Northern Ireland was held on 26 May as part of the wider general election with 12 MPs elected in single-seat constituencies using first-past-the-post.
This was the first election to the House of Commons of the United Kingdom since the creation of Northern Ireland in 1921 where all constituencies in the region were contested
The Ulster Unionists regained the seat which they had lost to Jack Beattie from the Irish Labour Party. The nationalist interest was represented by Sinn Féin who gained the two seats previously held by the Nationalist Party. Patricia McLaughlin was the first woman elected as an MP for a Northern Ireland constituency.
In the election as a whole, the Conservative Party, which included the Ulster Unionists, led by Sir Anthony Eden as Prime Minister, continued in a majority government.
| 1955 United Kingdom general election in Northern Ireland [1] [2] | |||||||||||||||
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| Party | Candidates | Votes | |||||||||||||
| Stood | Elected | Gained | Unseated | Net | % of total | % | No. | Net % | |||||||
| UUP | 12 | 10 | 1 | 0 | +1 | 83.3 | 68.5 | 442,647 | +9.1 | ||||||
| Sinn Féin | 12 | 2 | 2 | 0 | +2 | 16.7 | 23.6 | 152,310 | +23.6 | ||||||
| NI Labour | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | 5.5 | 35,614 | -8.0 | ||||||
| Labour | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | -1 | — | 2.5 | 16,050 | -4.7 | ||||||
| Ind. Nationalist | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | -1 | — | — | — | -7.1 | ||||||
| Nationalist | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | -1 | — | — | — | -7.1 | ||||||
| Ind. Republican | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | — | — | -5.8 | ||||||
| By-election | Date | Incumbent | Party | Winner | Party | Cause | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mid Ulster | 11 August 1955 [by 1] | Tom Mitchell | Sinn Féin | Tom Mitchell | Sinn Féin | Disqualification | ||
| Mid Ulster | 8 May 1956 [by 1] | Charles Beattie | UUP | George Forrest | Ind. Unionist | Disqualification | ||
| Belfast East | 19 March 1959 | Alan McKibbin | UUP | Stanley McMaster | UUP | Death | ||
The Irish component of the 1918 United Kingdom general election took place on 14 December 1918. It was the final United Kingdom general election to be held throughout Ireland, as the next election would happen following Irish independence. It is a key moment in modern Irish history, seeing the overwhelming defeat of the moderate nationalist Irish Parliamentary Party (IPP), which had dominated the Irish political landscape since the 1880s, and a landslide victory for the radical Sinn Féin party. Sinn Féin had never previously stood in a general election, but had won six seats in by-elections in 1917–1918. The party had vowed in its manifesto to establish an independent Irish Republic. In Ulster, however, the Unionist Party was the most successful party.
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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.
The 1959 United Kingdom general election in Northern Ireland was held on 8 October with 12 MPs elected in single-seat constituencies using first-past-the-post as part of the wider general election in the United Kingdom.
The 1970 United Kingdom general election in Northern Ireland was held on 31 March with 12 MPs elected in single-seat constituencies using first-past-the-post as part of the wider general election in the United Kingdom. It was the first general election held after the Representation of the People Act 1969 which reduced the voting age from 21 to 18.
The February 1974 United Kingdom general election in Northern Ireland was held on 28 February with 12 MPs elected in single-seat constituencies using first-past-the-post as part of the wider general election in the United Kingdom.
The 1979 United Kingdom general election in Northern Ireland was held on 3 May with 12 MPs elected in single-seat constituencies using first-past-the-post as part of the wider general election in the United Kingdom.
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