Post by therealriga on Dec 1, 2023 18:47:24 GMT
It may seem strange to start a profile of North Antrim by mentioning the former member for Bolsover, Dennis Skinner. It’s hard to think of a politician whose politics are more distant from the politics of North Antrim, with its rural and social conservatism and evangelical tinges. However, Skinner’s defeat in the 2019 election left North Antrim as the only constituency whose MP’s name hadn’t changed since 1970. This is, of course, due to the father and son team of Ian Paisley Senior and Junior representing the constituency for the last half century. Perhaps though there are other parallels with Bolsover. For years, the MPs were nationally known figures, highly vocal firebrand politicians who proved to be a thorn in the side of their respective establishments.
North Antrim was first created in 1885, when the two-member Antrim constituency was split into four single member constituencies. The original area covered the northern half of the current constituency, with the southern half in the Mid Antrim constituency. The Antrim constituency was revived for the 1922 election and then split again into North Antrim and South Antrim for the 1950 election.
The post-war constituency consisted of the northern half of County Antrim, with its southern end containing the areas around the towns of Ballymena and Larne. Despite having an electorate well above the national average (nearly 80,000 at the time of the 1970 election) it expanded even further for the 1974 election, gaining nearly 20,000 voters around Carrickfergus from South Antrim. By 1982, the electorate had reached 105,000 and it was therefore significantly reduced in size for the 1983 election, losing over 40,000 voters. This mainly involved excising the eastern chunk around Larne and Carrickfergus, which formed the new East Antrim constituency. A smaller area around Portrush was also lost to East Londonderry. This meant it contained the whole of Ballymena, Ballymoney and Moyle councils. Unchanged for the 1997 election, it lost 3 Moyle wards covering the nationalist Glens of Antrim area for 2010. Following local government reform, it consists of the western half of Mid & East Antrim council and the eastern half of Causeway Coast & Glens council, excluding the Glens themselves. The constituency’s northern section includes a number of popular tourist attractions: the Giant's Causeway, the Bushmills whisky distillery, the Carrick-a-Rede rope bridge and Ballycastle’s Ould Lammas Fair.
The largest population cluster is in Ballymena and its satellite villages such as Ahoghill and Cullybackey. Smaller population centres are in Ballycastle and Ballymoney. The latter has seen a surge in population in recent times, growing by over 15% between 2001 and 2011.
While the area has always been known for its Protestantism and Loyalism there is a substantial Catholic minority. In the 2011 census, 28.3% had a Catholic community background. Particular clusters were found around Ballycastle (71% Catholic in the 2011 census), Rathlin Island, the Glenravel Road area north east of Ballymena and in the villages of Dunloy (92%) and Rasharkin (72%) south of Ballymoney. In the two largest towns the figures were 24% in Ballymena and 15% in Ballymoney. In contrast, the area around Ballymena was almost exclusively Protestant: Ahoghill (2.5%), Broughshane (3.6%), Cullybackey (3%) and Kells (3%). The coastal strip west of Ballycastle has even lower figures with Bushmills (1.5%) the second lowest in Northern Ireland, behind only Doagh in the South Antrim constituency.
The average age at the 2011 census was 38.8 years, the fifth highest in NI. Participation in further education was the lowest in the region. Unemployment in 2015 was below the regional average, though reaching 11% in Bushmills and 8% in the Ballee and Ballykeel estates in south-east Ballymena. Owner occupancy rates in the main towns were below the regional average of 67.5% in 2011: at 64% in Ballymena and 61% in both Ballymoney and Ballycastle. 23.3% claimed some ability in the Ulster Scots dialect, the highest of any constituency. In the 2016 Brexit Referendum, 62% backed leave, the highest leave vote in NI.
For a long time, the area had a reputation for Evangelical Protestantism and was dubbed “Ulster’s Bible Belt.” Well into the 1980s, children’s playgrounds would be closed on Sundays and swings chained up to prevent their use. Shopping centres and leisure facilities remained closed on Sundays until the end of the century. A particularly bizarre controversy in 1993 gained international attention when a planned Electric Light Orchestra concert in Ballymena was cancelled after protests from DUP councillors on Ballymena council, with one councillor claiming that rock music was “mostly known by the four D's: devil, drinking, drugs and debauchery." A decade later, Ballymena itself had gained notoriety by being labelled “Northern Ireland’s heroin capital” with some claiming that up to 1,000 addicts lived in the town.
Ballymena council was usually a DUP stronghold, with the party maintaining overall control from 1981 to 1993, when they were overtaken by the UUP. They regained the lead in 2001 and again held majority control from 2005 until the council’s 2014 abolition. Ballymoney council was Unionist controlled throughout its history, with a tight battle between the UUP and DUP, though from 2001 until its abolition the latter had pulled ahead, holding half the 16 seats. Moyle was a haven for independent candidates throughout its history.
The original incarnation of North Antrim was a safe Conservative/Unionist seat. When the constituency was revived in 1950 the first two elections saw some of the last unopposed contests in a UK general election, with the UUP winning. The 1952 by-election would be the penultimate occasion on which this occurred. For the next two decades the UUP won huge majorities over Nationalist candidates, often polling around 90% of the vote.
The new era began in 1970. Ian Paisley had built up a following among Loyalists opposed to any compromise with Nationalists. He gave notice of his support by winning a NI parliament by-election in Bannside, which covered the western part of North Antrim, in April 1970. Two months later he took the Westminster seat, ending the UUP’s Henry Clarke’s 11-year tenure.
Paisley subsequently held on easily, usually receiving at least 70% as the sole Unionist candidate and still winning a majority of votes when the UUP stood against him. From 1979 to 2004 he doubled as an MEP for NI, topping the poll on every occasion. Paisley’s career for the rest of the century was marked by a refusal to compromise. He led Loyalist opposition to the Sunningdale Agreement, the Anglo-Irish Agreement and the Good Friday Agreement. Controversy was never far away. He was ejected from the House of Commons several times, on one occasion comparing Margaret Thatcher to “Jezebel who sought to destroy Israel in a day.” He was also ejected from the European Parliament for interrupting one of Thatcher’s speeches and for a protest at Pope John Paul’s appearance.
The aftermath of the Good Friday Agreement saw Paisley’s DUP become the main Unionist party, however it also coincided with a softening of his views. He agreed to enter government with Sinn Féin, serving as First Minister of Northern Ireland. He formed a working relationship with Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness and, to the astonishment of many, a close friendship, with the two dubbed the “Chuckle Brothers.” This and the overall compromise alienated many of his DUP base, who quit the party and, led by his successor as MEP, Jim Allister, formed the Traditional Unionist Voice.
On Paisley’s retirement in 2010, he was succeeded by his son, Ian Paisley Junior. In the latter’s first contest, he was opposed by Allister. However, the TUV leader could only take 17% of the vote, allowing Paisley to win by 12,558 votes. By the 2017 election he had increased his majority to over 20,000, but controversy soon followed.
In September 2017 the Daily Telegraph highlighted two trips that Paisley had made to Sri Lanka in 2013, where he had enjoyed that government’s hospitality without declaring it. He had then advocated for a trade deal with Sri Lanka. Following this, MPs voted to suspend him for 30 sitting days. This meant that Paisley had the ignominy of becoming the first MP to trigger the provisions in the Recall of MPs Act 2015. A Recall Petition was organised, however this was only signed by 9.4% of the electorate: short of the 10% needed. The petition was criticised as only 3 venues had been opened of the 10 available and was begun in mid-August. The result meant that Paisley gained the unwanted distinction of being the first (and to date only) MP to survive a Recall Petition.
Whether because of this controversy or not, Paisley saw an 11.4% swing back to the UUP in 2019, which still left him with a majority of 12,721. The only other threat to his tenure has come from the Boundary Commission. In the zombie review, North Antrim was to be split, with Ballymena being linked with either Larne or Antrim and the remainder being linked with Coleraine. This could have pitted Paisley against one of his DUP colleagues in a selection battle. The final recommendations of the latest review are much more favourable to the DUP, removing 3 eastern wards including the mostly Catholic Glenravel area. The DUP lost a seat to Alliance at the 2022 Assembly elections, but with a divided opposition, remain favourites to hold next time.
North Antrim was first created in 1885, when the two-member Antrim constituency was split into four single member constituencies. The original area covered the northern half of the current constituency, with the southern half in the Mid Antrim constituency. The Antrim constituency was revived for the 1922 election and then split again into North Antrim and South Antrim for the 1950 election.
The post-war constituency consisted of the northern half of County Antrim, with its southern end containing the areas around the towns of Ballymena and Larne. Despite having an electorate well above the national average (nearly 80,000 at the time of the 1970 election) it expanded even further for the 1974 election, gaining nearly 20,000 voters around Carrickfergus from South Antrim. By 1982, the electorate had reached 105,000 and it was therefore significantly reduced in size for the 1983 election, losing over 40,000 voters. This mainly involved excising the eastern chunk around Larne and Carrickfergus, which formed the new East Antrim constituency. A smaller area around Portrush was also lost to East Londonderry. This meant it contained the whole of Ballymena, Ballymoney and Moyle councils. Unchanged for the 1997 election, it lost 3 Moyle wards covering the nationalist Glens of Antrim area for 2010. Following local government reform, it consists of the western half of Mid & East Antrim council and the eastern half of Causeway Coast & Glens council, excluding the Glens themselves. The constituency’s northern section includes a number of popular tourist attractions: the Giant's Causeway, the Bushmills whisky distillery, the Carrick-a-Rede rope bridge and Ballycastle’s Ould Lammas Fair.
The largest population cluster is in Ballymena and its satellite villages such as Ahoghill and Cullybackey. Smaller population centres are in Ballycastle and Ballymoney. The latter has seen a surge in population in recent times, growing by over 15% between 2001 and 2011.
While the area has always been known for its Protestantism and Loyalism there is a substantial Catholic minority. In the 2011 census, 28.3% had a Catholic community background. Particular clusters were found around Ballycastle (71% Catholic in the 2011 census), Rathlin Island, the Glenravel Road area north east of Ballymena and in the villages of Dunloy (92%) and Rasharkin (72%) south of Ballymoney. In the two largest towns the figures were 24% in Ballymena and 15% in Ballymoney. In contrast, the area around Ballymena was almost exclusively Protestant: Ahoghill (2.5%), Broughshane (3.6%), Cullybackey (3%) and Kells (3%). The coastal strip west of Ballycastle has even lower figures with Bushmills (1.5%) the second lowest in Northern Ireland, behind only Doagh in the South Antrim constituency.
The average age at the 2011 census was 38.8 years, the fifth highest in NI. Participation in further education was the lowest in the region. Unemployment in 2015 was below the regional average, though reaching 11% in Bushmills and 8% in the Ballee and Ballykeel estates in south-east Ballymena. Owner occupancy rates in the main towns were below the regional average of 67.5% in 2011: at 64% in Ballymena and 61% in both Ballymoney and Ballycastle. 23.3% claimed some ability in the Ulster Scots dialect, the highest of any constituency. In the 2016 Brexit Referendum, 62% backed leave, the highest leave vote in NI.
For a long time, the area had a reputation for Evangelical Protestantism and was dubbed “Ulster’s Bible Belt.” Well into the 1980s, children’s playgrounds would be closed on Sundays and swings chained up to prevent their use. Shopping centres and leisure facilities remained closed on Sundays until the end of the century. A particularly bizarre controversy in 1993 gained international attention when a planned Electric Light Orchestra concert in Ballymena was cancelled after protests from DUP councillors on Ballymena council, with one councillor claiming that rock music was “mostly known by the four D's: devil, drinking, drugs and debauchery." A decade later, Ballymena itself had gained notoriety by being labelled “Northern Ireland’s heroin capital” with some claiming that up to 1,000 addicts lived in the town.
Ballymena council was usually a DUP stronghold, with the party maintaining overall control from 1981 to 1993, when they were overtaken by the UUP. They regained the lead in 2001 and again held majority control from 2005 until the council’s 2014 abolition. Ballymoney council was Unionist controlled throughout its history, with a tight battle between the UUP and DUP, though from 2001 until its abolition the latter had pulled ahead, holding half the 16 seats. Moyle was a haven for independent candidates throughout its history.
The original incarnation of North Antrim was a safe Conservative/Unionist seat. When the constituency was revived in 1950 the first two elections saw some of the last unopposed contests in a UK general election, with the UUP winning. The 1952 by-election would be the penultimate occasion on which this occurred. For the next two decades the UUP won huge majorities over Nationalist candidates, often polling around 90% of the vote.
The new era began in 1970. Ian Paisley had built up a following among Loyalists opposed to any compromise with Nationalists. He gave notice of his support by winning a NI parliament by-election in Bannside, which covered the western part of North Antrim, in April 1970. Two months later he took the Westminster seat, ending the UUP’s Henry Clarke’s 11-year tenure.
Paisley subsequently held on easily, usually receiving at least 70% as the sole Unionist candidate and still winning a majority of votes when the UUP stood against him. From 1979 to 2004 he doubled as an MEP for NI, topping the poll on every occasion. Paisley’s career for the rest of the century was marked by a refusal to compromise. He led Loyalist opposition to the Sunningdale Agreement, the Anglo-Irish Agreement and the Good Friday Agreement. Controversy was never far away. He was ejected from the House of Commons several times, on one occasion comparing Margaret Thatcher to “Jezebel who sought to destroy Israel in a day.” He was also ejected from the European Parliament for interrupting one of Thatcher’s speeches and for a protest at Pope John Paul’s appearance.
The aftermath of the Good Friday Agreement saw Paisley’s DUP become the main Unionist party, however it also coincided with a softening of his views. He agreed to enter government with Sinn Féin, serving as First Minister of Northern Ireland. He formed a working relationship with Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness and, to the astonishment of many, a close friendship, with the two dubbed the “Chuckle Brothers.” This and the overall compromise alienated many of his DUP base, who quit the party and, led by his successor as MEP, Jim Allister, formed the Traditional Unionist Voice.
On Paisley’s retirement in 2010, he was succeeded by his son, Ian Paisley Junior. In the latter’s first contest, he was opposed by Allister. However, the TUV leader could only take 17% of the vote, allowing Paisley to win by 12,558 votes. By the 2017 election he had increased his majority to over 20,000, but controversy soon followed.
In September 2017 the Daily Telegraph highlighted two trips that Paisley had made to Sri Lanka in 2013, where he had enjoyed that government’s hospitality without declaring it. He had then advocated for a trade deal with Sri Lanka. Following this, MPs voted to suspend him for 30 sitting days. This meant that Paisley had the ignominy of becoming the first MP to trigger the provisions in the Recall of MPs Act 2015. A Recall Petition was organised, however this was only signed by 9.4% of the electorate: short of the 10% needed. The petition was criticised as only 3 venues had been opened of the 10 available and was begun in mid-August. The result meant that Paisley gained the unwanted distinction of being the first (and to date only) MP to survive a Recall Petition.
Whether because of this controversy or not, Paisley saw an 11.4% swing back to the UUP in 2019, which still left him with a majority of 12,721. The only other threat to his tenure has come from the Boundary Commission. In the zombie review, North Antrim was to be split, with Ballymena being linked with either Larne or Antrim and the remainder being linked with Coleraine. This could have pitted Paisley against one of his DUP colleagues in a selection battle. The final recommendations of the latest review are much more favourable to the DUP, removing 3 eastern wards including the mostly Catholic Glenravel area. The DUP lost a seat to Alliance at the 2022 Assembly elections, but with a divided opposition, remain favourites to hold next time.
