Foyle (UK Parliament constituency)

For other constituencies of the same name, see Foyle.

Coordinates: 55°01′34″N 7°23′46″W / 55.026°N 7.396°W / 55.026; -7.396

Foyle
County constituency for the House of Commons
Boundary of Foyle in Northern Ireland 1995 – 2008.
Districts of Northern Ireland	Derry City Council
Electorate	68,565 (March 2011)
Current constituency
Created	1983
Member of parliament	Mark Durkan (SDLP)
Number of members	One
Created from	Londonderry and Mid Ulster^[1]
Overlaps
European Parliament constituency	Northern Ireland

Foyle is a parliamentary constituency in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom. It has been represented since 2005 by Mark Durkan, of the Social Democratic and Labour Party.

Boundaries

1983-1997: The District of Londonderry, and the District of Strabane wards of Artigarvan, Dunnamanagh, East, North, Slievekirk, South, and West.

1997-2010: The District of Derry.

2010-present: The District of Derry wards of Altnagelvin, Ballynashallog, Beechwood, Brandywell, Carn Hill, Caw, Clondermot, Creggan Central, Creggan South, Crevagh, Culmore, Ebrington, Eglinton, Enagh, Foyle Springs, Holly Mount, Kilfennan, Lisnagelvin, New Buildings, Pennyburn, Rosemount, Shantallow East, Shantallow West, Springtown, Strand, The Diamond, Victoria, and Westland.

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.

The River Foyle at night

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.

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.

The constituency is overwhelmingly nationalist and in many elections has often had the strongest vote for the Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) in the whole of Northern Ireland.

There had been much speculation that with the gradual retirement of John Hume from politics, the SDLP vote might collapse. In the 2003 Northern Ireland Assembly election, the SDLP lost 11.5% of the vote and were only narrowly ahead of Sinn Féin. Hume's retirement led to many questioning whether Mark Durkan, Hume's successor as leader, could hold on to the seat. However in the 2005 general election he did so. The decline in the Unionist vote suggests that some Unionist voters tactically voted for 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 6046 votes.

Members of Parliament

The Member of Parliament since the 2005 general election is Mark Durkan of the Social Democratic and Labour Party. He succeeded John Hume, also of the SDLP, who had represented the seat since its creation for the 1983 general election.

Election		Member	Party
	1983	John Hume	SDLP
	2005	Mark Durkan	SDLP

Elections

Elections in the 2010s

General Election 2015: Foyle^[3]^[4]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	SDLP	Mark Durkan	17,725	47.9	+3.2
	Sinn Féin	Gearóid Ó hEára	11,679	31.6	−0.4
	DUP	Gary Middleton	4,573	12.4	+0.5
	UUP	Julia Kee	1,226	3.3	+0.1
	Alliance	David Hawthorne	835	2.3	+1.7
	UKIP	Kyle Thompson	832	2.2	N/A
	NI Conservatives	Hamish Badenoch	132	0.4	N/A
Majority			6,046	16.3	+3.6
Turnout			37,002	52.8	−4.7
	SDLP hold		Swing	+1.8

General Election 2010: Foyle^[5]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	SDLP	Mark Durkan^[6]	16,922	44.7	−1.7
	Sinn Féin	Martina Anderson^[7]	12,098	31.9	−1.4
	DUP	Maurice Devenney^[8]	4,489	11.8	−2.2
	People Before Profit	Eamonn McCann^[9]	2,936	7.7	N/A
	UCU-NF	David Harding^[10]	1,221	3.2	+0.9
	Alliance	Keith McGrellis^[11]	223	0.6	+0.6
Majority			4,824	12.7	−0.4
Turnout			37,889	57.5	−12.5
	SDLP hold		Swing	−0.2

Elections in the 2000s

General Election 2005: Foyle^[12]
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	+3.6
	UUP	Earl Storey	1,091	2.4	−4.5
	Rainbow Dream Ticket	Ben Reel	31	0.1	+0.1
Majority			5,957	13.1	−10.5
Turnout			45,609	65.9	−3.0
	SDLP hold		Swing	−5.3

General Election 2001: Foyle^[13]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	SDLP	John Hume	24,538	50.2	−2.3
	Sinn Féin	Mitchel McLaughlin	12,988	26.6	+2.6
	DUP	William Hay	7,414	15.2	−6.4
	UUP	Andrew Davidson	3,360	6.9	N/A
	Alliance	Colm Kavanagh	579	1.2	−0.5
Majority			11,550	23.6
Turnout			48,879	68.9	−1.8
	SDLP hold		Swing	−2.5

Elections in the 1990s

General Election 1997: Foyle^[14]
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
Turnout			47,815	70.4
	SDLP hold		Swing	−3.7

General Election 1992: Foyle^[15]
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 Alexandra McIlroy	1,390	2.7	+0.1
	Workers' Party	Gordon McKenzie	514	1.0	−1.1
	Natural Law	John Joseph Pius Burns	422	0.8	N/A
Majority			13,005	25.1
Turnout			51,890	69.5
	SDLP hold		Swing	+2.5

Elections in the 1980s

General Election 1987: Foyle^[16]
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 Ann Zammitt	1,276	2.6	+0.5
	Workers' Party	Eamonn Melaugh	1,022	2.1	+1.0
Majority			9,860	20.3
Turnout			48,631	69.0
	SDLP hold		Swing	+2.4

General Election 1983: Foyle^[17]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	SDLP	John Hume	24,071	46.0	N/A
	DUP	Gregory Lloyd Campbell	15,923	30.5	N/A
	Sinn Féin	Martin McGuinness	10,607	20.3	N/A
	Alliance	Gerard O'Grady	1,108	2.1	N/A
	Workers' Party	Eamonn Melaugh	582	1.1	N/A
Majority			8,148	15.6	N/A
Turnout			52,291	77.6	N/A
	SDLP win (new seat)

References

↑ "'Foyle', June 1983 up to May 1997". ElectionWeb Project. Cognitive Computing Limited. Retrieved 11 March 2016.
↑ http://www.opsi.gov.uk/si/si2008/draft/ukdsi_9780110813172_en_1
↑ "Election Data 2015". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 17 October 2015. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
↑ http://www.eoni.org.uk/Elections/Election-results-and-statistics/Election-results-and-statistics-2003-onwards/Elections-2015/UK-Parliamentary-Election-Results/UK-Parliamentary-Election-Result-Belfast-East-(7) 23Aug15
↑ "Election Data 2010". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 26 July 2013. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
↑ "Durkan selected as Foyle Westminster candidate", SDLP
↑ Foyle, UKPollingReport
↑ Harding named UUP candidate in forthcoming election, Londonderry Sentinel, 1 April 2010
↑ Vote People Before Profit Alliance in May's Westminster Election, People Before Profit Alliance, 24 March 2010
↑ Westminster Candidates, Ulster Unionist Party, 20 March 2010
↑ Alliance List of Candidates, Alliance Party of Northern Ireland, 6 May 2010
↑ "Election Data 2005". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
↑ "Election Data 2001". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
↑ "Election Data 1997". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
↑ "Election Data 1992". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
↑ "Election Data 1987". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
↑ "Election Data 1983". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.

Current Westminster Constituencies in Northern Ireland (18)

Democratic Unionist Party (8)	Belfast East Belfast North East Antrim East Londonderry Lagan Valley North Antrim Strangford Upper Bann

Sinn Féin (4)	Belfast West Mid Ulster Newry and Armagh West Tyrone

Social Democratic and Labour Party (3)	Belfast South Foyle South Down

Ulster Unionist Party (2)	Fermanagh and South Tyrone South Antrim

Independent (1)	North Down

Northern Ireland European constituency Sinn Féin (1) Democratic Unionist Party (1) Ulster Unionist Party (1)

Parliamentary constituencies in County Londonderry

Parliament of Ireland
to 1800

Coleraine (???–1800)
Londonderry City (???–1800)
Londonderry County (???–1800)
Newtown Limavady (???–1800)

Westminster 1801–present

Historic	Coleraine (1801–85) Londonderry (1801–85, 1922–83) Londonderry City (1801–1922) North Londonderry (1885–22) South Londonderry (1885–22)

Current	Foyle (1983—) East Londonderry (1983—) Mid Ulster (1950—)

Dáil Éireann
Revolutionary era 1919–22

First Dáil
1919–21

Seats taken	(none)

Second Dáil
1921–22

No seats taken	(none)

Parliament of Northern Ireland 1921–72

City of Londonderry (1929–72)
Foyle (1929–72)
Londonderry (1921–29)
Mid Londonderry (1929–72)
North Londonderry (1929–72)
South Londonderry (1929–72)

Northern Ireland Assemblies

Assembly 1973–74 Constitutional Convention 1975–76 Assembly 1982–86	Londonderry Mid Ulster

Northern Ireland Forum 1996–98 Assembly (1998–present)	Foyle Mid Ulster

European Parliament
1979–present

Northern Ireland (1979—)

Constituencies in Ireland by county

Republic of Ireland	Carlow Cavan Clare Cork Donegal Dublin Galway Kerry Kildare Kilkenny Laois Leitrim Limerick Longford Louth Mayo Meath Monaghan Offaly Roscommon Sligo Tipperary Waterford Westmeath Wexford Wicklow

Northern Ireland	Antrim Armagh Down Fermanagh Londonderry Tyrone

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