Post by therealriga on Jun 12, 2020 15:23:55 GMT
Mid Ulster was created for the 1950 election, when the two-member Fermanagh & Tyrone constituency was abolished as part of the final move to single member constituencies. Since then it has existed in two very distinct incarnations. The first, which existed before the 1997 election had a very similar history to the other constituency (Fermanagh & South Tyrone) which emerged from the split. Extremely high turnouts, close contests, split votes between different factions and results decided in the courts were the order of the day.
For the 1997 general election Northern Ireland gained an extra seat and, to facilitate this, Mid Ulster was effectively abolished, being split in two, with each part forming the core of a new constituency. Though the easternmost of these contained less of the parent constituency than the other new constituency, West Tyrone, it retained the name. Though both successor seats saw close contests in 1997, they became safe Sinn Féin seats in the 2000s.
The original constituency was based on County Tyrone, excluding the south part of the county around Dungannon and the Clogher Valley. It also included the southern part of County Londonderry around the town of Magherafelt. When last drawn, the constituency consisted of the whole of Cookstown and Magherfelt councils, plus 6 wards of Dungannon council. Following 2014 local government reform, all the area falls within Mid Ulster council.
Since the plantation, the area has been one of the cockpits of sectarian division and strife. Protestant villages like Coagh and Knockloughrim sit uneasily beside Catholic neighbours. The East Tyrone brigade of the IRA was one of its most active units and they were opposed by the equally violent Mid-Ulster UVF. The British Government also sent SAS units into the area, resulting in a number of incidents when IRA units were shot dead. There are no large towns, with the main population centres being Magherafelt, Cookstown and Coalisland. The socio-economic indicators are around or slightly below the regional average, with Catholic rural areas tending to be poorer than Protestant ones, reflecting patterns established centuries earlier. There are no major pockets of wealth or poverty, with only one of the 38 wards falling in the poorest 10% in NI.
In the 2011 census, the constituency’s average age was 35.5 years, making it the second youngest. Life expectancy, at 79.3 years, was above the NI average and the third highest. 66.7% had a Catholic community background, the fifth highest. In the 2016 Brexit referendum, 60.4% voted remain.
The initial election was won by Independent Republican Anthony Mulvey, who had represented the parent constituency since 1935. He did not stand the following year and his successor, Independent Nationalist Michael O'Neill, also stood down after a single term.
Both had won by over 3,000 but the 1955 election saw a closer contest, with Sinn Féin’s Tom Mitchell beating the UUP’s Charles Mitchell by 260 votes. This would be the first of several controversial elections in the constituency. Mitchell was in prison for his role in an IRA raid and was disqualified. With no legislation preventing it, Mitchell stood and won the subsequent by-election. After an election petition, the runner-up, Charles Beattie was declared elected. His time in the Commons was equally short, as he was disqualified due to his membership of an Appeals Tribunal.
At the subsequent by-election in 1956, Mitchell stood again but was opposed by former MP Michael O’Neill. The divided nationalist vote let Independent Unionist George Forrest win easily. The three subsequent general elections saw Forrest, now standing as UUP, beat Mitchell due to nationalist divisions or partial abstentionism. Forrest died aged 47 in late 1968 and the by-election the following year saw a rare all-female contest. His widow, Anne Forrest, was beaten by 21-year-old Unity candidate Bernadette Devlin, who remained the “Baby of the House” after being re-elected in 1970.
Devlin had been unchallenged on the nationalist side, but the SDLP stood in 1974 and this split allowed Vanguard Unionist John Dunlop to win by nearly 7,000 votes. Nationalist splits allowed him to hold on in October 1974 and 1979. In the latter election he had stood as United Ulster Unionist Party (UUUP) after Vanguard had split. By the early 1980s, the UUUP had struggled to maintain a following and in the 1982 Assembly election in Mid Ulster, Dunlop polled a dismal 2.8%, the lowest ever vote for a Westminster MP at a regional election, and was outpolled by his party colleague (who also lost.) The Assembly elections saw the DUP become the Unionist frontrunner in the constituency while Sinn Féin re-emerged and finished just behind the SDLP.
Boundary changes for 1983 shrunk the constituency. It lost the areas around Magherafelt and Strabane. In the 1983 election, with both Unionist and Nationalist sides split, the Reverend William McCrea of the DUP beat Sinn Féin’s Danny Morrison by 78 votes. Subsequent Unionist pacts allowed McCrea to hold on easily in 1987 and 1992.
Unionist hopes in the area were dealt a severe blow by the 1990s boundary review. All 4 constituencies in the west of NI were oversized, and the area was entitled to 4.5 constituencies. The provisional proposals reversed the 1983 changes in the north of the constituency, returning 7 wards around and including Magherafelt, and 7 wards centred on Strabane. However, at the southern end, 17 of Omagh council’s 21 wards, including the town itself, would have been linked with Fermanagh instead. As these changes were part of a significant and radical redrawing which abolished several constituencies, they were rejected in local enquiries. Instead, NI was granted an extra, 18th seat. To achieve this, Mid Ulster was split in two, with each part gaining territory from neighbouring constituencies. The western section, which contained more of the seat, formed the new West Tyrone seat. The eastern section, which retained the name, despite containing only 40% of the former seat, gained 6 wards around Coalisland, traditionally strong Irish Republican territory, while also expanding to the north to take in the whole of Magherafelt district.
The first elections in the new constituency were in May 1996 to the NI forum and the result was alarming for Unionists: SF 29.6%, SDLP 28.5%, UUP 18.1%, DUP 16.5%, with nearly 4% split between minor Unionist groups. In addition to facing a much larger Nationalist vote, McCrea did himself no favours later in the year. Always a staunch critic of IRA violence, he appeared on a platform in support of Loyalist Volunteer Force (LVF) leader Billy Wright. As the LVF had split from the UVF in opposition to the latter’s ceasefire, this led to criticism and accusations that McCrea was distinguishing between “Good” (loyalist) terrorists and “Bad” (Irish Republican) terrorists and galvanised Nationalist efforts to unseat him. When the SDLP rebuffed Sinn Féin calls for an electoral pact, Sinn Féin parachuted in a senior figure. Martin McGuinness, who had contested elections in Derry city before that. McCrea was unopposed by the UUP. An exceptionally bitter contest saw McGuinness squeeze the SDLP vote to oust McCrea by 1,883 votes on a turnout of nearly 86%, the highest of the whole general election.
McCrea returned to parliament 3 years later after winning a by-election in the neighbouring South Antrim. His absence allowed McGuinness to convert Mid Ulster into a safe Sinn Féin seat. McGuinness polled between 45% and 52%, easily enough to outpoll the SDLP (who usually received a third of that) and various Unionists, whose vote was usually split between two or three candidates.
When McGuinness stood down in 2013, Unionists agreed a common candidate, independent Nigel Lutton, but this just highlighted the weakness of the Unionist position, as he finished 4,681 votes behind new Sinn Féin candidate, Francie Molloy. Like his predecessor, Molloy has polled close on half the votes in subsequent elections and has a safe seat.
For the 1997 general election Northern Ireland gained an extra seat and, to facilitate this, Mid Ulster was effectively abolished, being split in two, with each part forming the core of a new constituency. Though the easternmost of these contained less of the parent constituency than the other new constituency, West Tyrone, it retained the name. Though both successor seats saw close contests in 1997, they became safe Sinn Féin seats in the 2000s.
The original constituency was based on County Tyrone, excluding the south part of the county around Dungannon and the Clogher Valley. It also included the southern part of County Londonderry around the town of Magherafelt. When last drawn, the constituency consisted of the whole of Cookstown and Magherfelt councils, plus 6 wards of Dungannon council. Following 2014 local government reform, all the area falls within Mid Ulster council.
Since the plantation, the area has been one of the cockpits of sectarian division and strife. Protestant villages like Coagh and Knockloughrim sit uneasily beside Catholic neighbours. The East Tyrone brigade of the IRA was one of its most active units and they were opposed by the equally violent Mid-Ulster UVF. The British Government also sent SAS units into the area, resulting in a number of incidents when IRA units were shot dead. There are no large towns, with the main population centres being Magherafelt, Cookstown and Coalisland. The socio-economic indicators are around or slightly below the regional average, with Catholic rural areas tending to be poorer than Protestant ones, reflecting patterns established centuries earlier. There are no major pockets of wealth or poverty, with only one of the 38 wards falling in the poorest 10% in NI.
In the 2011 census, the constituency’s average age was 35.5 years, making it the second youngest. Life expectancy, at 79.3 years, was above the NI average and the third highest. 66.7% had a Catholic community background, the fifth highest. In the 2016 Brexit referendum, 60.4% voted remain.
The initial election was won by Independent Republican Anthony Mulvey, who had represented the parent constituency since 1935. He did not stand the following year and his successor, Independent Nationalist Michael O'Neill, also stood down after a single term.
Both had won by over 3,000 but the 1955 election saw a closer contest, with Sinn Féin’s Tom Mitchell beating the UUP’s Charles Mitchell by 260 votes. This would be the first of several controversial elections in the constituency. Mitchell was in prison for his role in an IRA raid and was disqualified. With no legislation preventing it, Mitchell stood and won the subsequent by-election. After an election petition, the runner-up, Charles Beattie was declared elected. His time in the Commons was equally short, as he was disqualified due to his membership of an Appeals Tribunal.
At the subsequent by-election in 1956, Mitchell stood again but was opposed by former MP Michael O’Neill. The divided nationalist vote let Independent Unionist George Forrest win easily. The three subsequent general elections saw Forrest, now standing as UUP, beat Mitchell due to nationalist divisions or partial abstentionism. Forrest died aged 47 in late 1968 and the by-election the following year saw a rare all-female contest. His widow, Anne Forrest, was beaten by 21-year-old Unity candidate Bernadette Devlin, who remained the “Baby of the House” after being re-elected in 1970.
Devlin had been unchallenged on the nationalist side, but the SDLP stood in 1974 and this split allowed Vanguard Unionist John Dunlop to win by nearly 7,000 votes. Nationalist splits allowed him to hold on in October 1974 and 1979. In the latter election he had stood as United Ulster Unionist Party (UUUP) after Vanguard had split. By the early 1980s, the UUUP had struggled to maintain a following and in the 1982 Assembly election in Mid Ulster, Dunlop polled a dismal 2.8%, the lowest ever vote for a Westminster MP at a regional election, and was outpolled by his party colleague (who also lost.) The Assembly elections saw the DUP become the Unionist frontrunner in the constituency while Sinn Féin re-emerged and finished just behind the SDLP.
Boundary changes for 1983 shrunk the constituency. It lost the areas around Magherafelt and Strabane. In the 1983 election, with both Unionist and Nationalist sides split, the Reverend William McCrea of the DUP beat Sinn Féin’s Danny Morrison by 78 votes. Subsequent Unionist pacts allowed McCrea to hold on easily in 1987 and 1992.
Unionist hopes in the area were dealt a severe blow by the 1990s boundary review. All 4 constituencies in the west of NI were oversized, and the area was entitled to 4.5 constituencies. The provisional proposals reversed the 1983 changes in the north of the constituency, returning 7 wards around and including Magherafelt, and 7 wards centred on Strabane. However, at the southern end, 17 of Omagh council’s 21 wards, including the town itself, would have been linked with Fermanagh instead. As these changes were part of a significant and radical redrawing which abolished several constituencies, they were rejected in local enquiries. Instead, NI was granted an extra, 18th seat. To achieve this, Mid Ulster was split in two, with each part gaining territory from neighbouring constituencies. The western section, which contained more of the seat, formed the new West Tyrone seat. The eastern section, which retained the name, despite containing only 40% of the former seat, gained 6 wards around Coalisland, traditionally strong Irish Republican territory, while also expanding to the north to take in the whole of Magherafelt district.
The first elections in the new constituency were in May 1996 to the NI forum and the result was alarming for Unionists: SF 29.6%, SDLP 28.5%, UUP 18.1%, DUP 16.5%, with nearly 4% split between minor Unionist groups. In addition to facing a much larger Nationalist vote, McCrea did himself no favours later in the year. Always a staunch critic of IRA violence, he appeared on a platform in support of Loyalist Volunteer Force (LVF) leader Billy Wright. As the LVF had split from the UVF in opposition to the latter’s ceasefire, this led to criticism and accusations that McCrea was distinguishing between “Good” (loyalist) terrorists and “Bad” (Irish Republican) terrorists and galvanised Nationalist efforts to unseat him. When the SDLP rebuffed Sinn Féin calls for an electoral pact, Sinn Féin parachuted in a senior figure. Martin McGuinness, who had contested elections in Derry city before that. McCrea was unopposed by the UUP. An exceptionally bitter contest saw McGuinness squeeze the SDLP vote to oust McCrea by 1,883 votes on a turnout of nearly 86%, the highest of the whole general election.
McCrea returned to parliament 3 years later after winning a by-election in the neighbouring South Antrim. His absence allowed McGuinness to convert Mid Ulster into a safe Sinn Féin seat. McGuinness polled between 45% and 52%, easily enough to outpoll the SDLP (who usually received a third of that) and various Unionists, whose vote was usually split between two or three candidates.
When McGuinness stood down in 2013, Unionists agreed a common candidate, independent Nigel Lutton, but this just highlighted the weakness of the Unionist position, as he finished 4,681 votes behind new Sinn Féin candidate, Francie Molloy. Like his predecessor, Molloy has polled close on half the votes in subsequent elections and has a safe seat.
