Foyle (UK Parliament constituency)

Foyle
County constituency for the House of Commons
Boundary of Foyle in Northern Ireland
Districts of Northern Ireland	Derry City and Strabane District Council
Electorate	68,565 (March 2011)
Major settlements	Derry
Current constituency
Created	1983
Member of Parliament	Colum Eastwood (SDLP)
Seats	1
Created from	Londonderry Mid Ulster (small parts of) [1]

Foyle is a constituency in Northern Ireland covering Derry, represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament. Its current Member of Parliament (MP) has been Colum Eastwood of the Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) since 2019.

Constituency profile

The name comes from the River Foyle which the city lies on and is used to avoid the contentious names of Derry or Londonderry, as well as to cover the areas of County Tyrone that were originally in the constituency. The seat is nationalist-leaning and residents' wealth is below average for the UK.

The wards within the constituency are among the poorest in the UK with high unemployment, high welfare dependency and the lowest employment rate for Northern Ireland.

The seat has typically been an SDLP stronghold however in 2017 Sinn Féin gained the seat for the first time with the smallest majority in Northern Ireland of 169. In 2019 SDLP leader Colum Eastwood won the seat back with an 18% swing and 17,000 majority.

Boundaries

Map of current 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 Londonderry constituency. From further revisions in 1995 (when it lost parts of the district of Strabane to the West Tyrone constituency), and until the 2008 revision, it covered exactly the same area as Derry City Council.

The River Foyle at night

Prior to the 2010 general election the transfer of Claudy and Banagher wards to East Londonderry were approved through the passing of the Northern Ireland Parliamentary Constituencies Order ^[2] in 2008.

History

For the history of the equivalent constituency prior to 1983, see Londonderry (UK Parliament constituency).

At the seat's creation at the 1983 general election, SDLP leader John Hume won the new seat, becoming the party's only MP after it lost Belfast West to Sinn Féin. Hume retained the seat until his retirement at the 2005 general election, when he was succeeded by the SDLP's Mark Durkan.

Durkan retained the seat in 2010. This seat also gave the Alliance Party their worst share of the vote in Northern Ireland, polling just 0.6% of the votes. Durkan was re-elected to a third term in 2015, increasing his share of the vote to 47.9% and winning a majority of 6,046 votes.

In the 2016 referendum to leave the European Union, the constituency was estimated to have voted remain by 78.3%. This was the sixth highest support for remain for a constituency, and the highest support for remain in Northern Ireland. ^[3]

In the 2017 election, the seat was won by Elisha McCallion of Sinn Féin, who won with a majority of just 169 votes over Mark Durkan. Following the election, concerns about electoral malpractice were raised with the Electoral Office by the SDLP and People Before Profit's Eamonn McCann. ^{[4] [5]}

In the 2019 election, the seat was recaptured by SDLP leader Colum Eastwood. Sinn Féin's vote share dropped significantly from 39.7% in 2017 to 20.7% in 2019, which was the lowest percentage share that that party had won in any general election in the constituency since 1992.

Members of Parliament

The Member of Parliament since the 2019 UK General Election is Colum Eastwood of the SDLP. He succeeded Elisha McCallion of Sinn Féin to regain the seat which the SDLP had held from its 1983 creation until 2017. The constituency was previously represented by John Hume, former leader of the SDLP and recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize.

Election		Member	Party
	1983	John Hume	SDLP
	2005	Mark Durkan
	2017	Elisha McCallion	Sinn Féin
	2019	Colum Eastwood	SDLP

Elections

Elections in the 2020s

Next general election: Foyle

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
Majority
Turnout
Registered electors
			Swing

Elections in the 2010s

General election 2019: Foyle ^[6]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	SDLP	Colum Eastwood	26,881	57.0	+17.7
	Sinn Féin	Elisha McCallion	9,771	20.7	―19.0
	DUP	Gary Middleton	4,773	10.1	―6.0
	Aontú	Anne McCloskey	2,032	4.3	New
	People Before Profit	Shaun Harkin	1,332	2.8	―0.2
	Alliance	Rachael Ferguson	1,267	2.7	+0.9
	Ulster Unionist	Darren Guy	1,088	2.3	New
Majority			17,110	36.3	N/A
Turnout			47,144	63.4	―2.0
Registered electors			74,360
	SDLP gain from Sinn Féin		Swing	+18.4

This seat saw the largest decrease in vote share for Sinn Féin at the 2019 general election. ^[7]

General election 2017: Foyle ^[8]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Sinn Féin	Elisha McCallion	18,256	39.7	+8.1
	SDLP	Mark Durkan	18,087	39.3	―8.6
	DUP	Gary Middleton	7,398	16.1	+3.7
	People Before Profit	Shaun Harkin	1,377	3.0	New
	Alliance	John Doherty	847	1.8	―0.5
Majority			169	0.4	N/A
Turnout			46,136	65.4	+12.6
Registered electors			70,324
	Sinn Féin gain from SDLP		Swing	+8.3

General election 2015: Foyle ^{[9] [10]}

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	SDLP	Mark Durkan	17,725	47.9	+3.2
	Sinn Féin	Gearóid Ó Heára	11,679	31.6	―0.3
	DUP	Gary Middleton	4,573	12.4	+0.6
	Ulster Unionist	Julia Kee	1,226	3.3	+0.1
	Alliance	David Hawthorne	835	2.3	+1.7
	UKIP	Kyle Thompson	832	2.2	New
	NI Conservatives	Hamish Badenoch	132	0.4	New
Majority			6,046	16.3	+3.5
Turnout			37,002	52.8	―4.7
Registered electors			70,036
	SDLP hold		Swing	+1.8

General election 2010: Foyle ^[11]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	SDLP	Mark Durkan [12]	16,922	44.7	―1.7
	Sinn Féin	Martina Anderson [13]	12,098	31.9	―1.4
	DUP	Maurice Devenney [14]	4,489	11.8	―2.2
	People Before Profit	Eamonn McCann [15]	2,936	7.7	New
	UCU-NF	David Harding	1,221	3.2	+0.9
	Alliance	Keith McGrellis [16]	223	0.6	New
Majority			4,824	12.8	―0.3
Turnout			37,889	57.5	―12.5
Registered electors			65,843
	SDLP hold		Swing	―0.2

Elections in the 2000s

General election 2005: Foyle ^[17]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	SDLP	Mark Durkan	21,119	46.3	―3.9
	Sinn Féin	Mitchel McLaughlin	15,162	33.2	+6.6
	DUP	William Hay	6,557	14.4	―0.8
	Socialist Environmental	Eamonn McCann	1,649	3.6	New
	Ulster Unionist	Earl Storey	1,091	2.4	―4.5
	Rainbow Dream Ticket	Ben Reel	31	0.1	New
Majority			5,957	13.1	―10.5
Turnout			45,609	65.9	―3.0
Registered electors			68,758
	SDLP hold		Swing	―5.3

General election 2001: Foyle ^[18]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	SDLP	John Hume	24,538	50.2	―2.3
	Sinn Féin	Mitchel McLaughlin	12,988	26.6	+2.7
	DUP	William Hay	7,414	15.2	―6.3
	Ulster Unionist	Andrew Davidson	3,360	6.9	New
	Alliance	Colm Cavanagh	579	1.2	―0.5
Majority			11,550	23.6	―5.0
Turnout			48,879	68.9	―1.5
Registered electors			70,943
	SDLP hold		Swing	―2.5

Elections in the 1990s

General election 1997: Foyle ^[19]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	SDLP	John Hume	25,109	52.5	+1.0
	Sinn Féin	Mitchel McLaughlin	11,445	23.9	+6.3
	DUP	William Hay	10,290	21.5	―4.9
	Alliance	Helen-Marie Bell	817	1.7	―1.0
	Natural Law	Donn Brennan	154	0.3	―0.5
Majority			13,664	28.6	+3.5
Turnout			47,815	70.4	+0.9
Registered electors			67,905
	SDLP hold		Swing	―4.0

General election 1992: Foyle ^[20]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	SDLP	John Hume	26,710	51.5	+2.7
	DUP	Gregory Lloyd Campbell	13,705	26.4	―2.2
	Sinn Féin	Martin McGuinness	9,149	17.6	―0.3
	Alliance	Lara McIlroy	1,390	2.7	+0.1
	Workers' Party	Gordon McKenzie	514	1.0	―1.1
	Natural Law	John Burns	422	0.8	New
Majority			13,005	25.1	+4.9
Turnout			51,890	69.5	+0.5
Registered electors			74,673
	SDLP hold		Swing	+2.5

Elections in the 1980s

General election 1987: Foyle ^[21]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	SDLP	John Hume	23,743	48.8	+2.8
	DUP	Gregory Lloyd Campbell	13,883	28.6	―1.9
	Sinn Féin	Martin McGuinness	8,707	17.9	―2.4
	Alliance	Elizabeth Zammitt	1,276	2.6	+0.5
	Workers' Party	Eamonn Melaugh	1,022	2.1	+1.0
Majority			9,860	20.2	+4.7
Turnout			48,631	69.0	―8.6
Registered electors			70,519
	SDLP hold		Swing	+2.4

General election 1983: Foyle ^[22]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	SDLP	John Hume	24,071	46.0
	DUP	Gregory Lloyd Campbell	15,923	30.5
	Sinn Féin	Martin McGuinness	10,607	20.3
	Alliance	Gerard O'Grady	1,108	2.1
	Workers' Party	Eamonn Melaugh	582	1.1
Majority			8,148	15.5
Turnout			52,291	77.6
Registered electors			66,976
	SDLP win (new seat)

See also

• Foyle and City of Londonderry were neighbouring constituencies in the Northern Ireland Parliament from 1929 to 1973.
• Londonderry City was a borough constituency in the UK parliament from the Act of Union to 1922.

External links

• 2017 Election House Of Commons Library 2017 Election report
• A Vision Of Britain Through Time (Constituency elector numbers)

References

1. "'Foyle', June 1983 up to May 1997". ElectionWeb Project. Cognitive Computing Limited. Archived from the original on 12 March 2016. Retrieved 11 March 2016.
2. "The Parliamentary Constituencies (Northern Ireland) Order 2008 No". Archived from the original on 5 December 2008. Retrieved 2008-04-27.
3. "Revised estimates of leave vote in Westminster constituencies" . Retrieved 26 October 2016.
4. "Foyle MLA to raise concerns over 'stolen votes' with election chief". News Letter . 13 June 2017. Retrieved 13 June 2017.
5. "Claims of Foyle vote theft mount - SDLP to meet with Electoral Office". Belfast Telegraph . 9 June 2017. Retrieved 9 June 2017.
6. "Foyle Parliamentary constituency". BBC News. BBC. Retrieved 18 November 2019.
7. "General Election 2019: results and analysis" (PDF). House of Commons Library. 28 January 2020. Retrieved 10 July 2021.
8. "Election of a Member of Parliament for the FOYLE Constituency – Statement of Persons Nominated and Notice of Poll". Electoral Office of Northern Ireland. 11 May 2017. Retrieved 16 May 2017.
9. "Election Data 2015". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 17 October 2015. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
10. "The Electoral Office of Northern Ireland – EONI". www.eoni.org.uk.
11. "Election Data 2010". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 26 July 2013. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
12. "Durkan selected as Foyle Westminster candidate", SDLP
13. Foyle, UKPollingReport
14. Harding named UUP candidate in forthcoming election, Londonderry Sentinel , 1 April 2010
15. Vote People Before Profit Alliance in May's Westminster Election ^{[ permanent dead link ]}, People Before Profit Alliance, 24 March 2010
16. Alliance List of Candidates Archived 4 May 2010 at the Wayback Machine , Alliance Party of Northern Ireland, 6 May 2010
17. "Election Data 2005". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
18. "Election Data 2001". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
19. "Election Data 1997". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
20. "Election Data 1992". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
21. "Election Data 1987". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
22. "Election Data 1983". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.

55°01′34″N7°23′46″W / 55.026°N 7.396°W / 55.026; -7.396