is a Parliamentary Constituency in the House Of Commons and also an Assembly constituency in the Northern Ireland Assembly .
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The seat was re-created in 1950 when the old Down two MP constituency was abolished as part of the final move to single member seats. Originally the seat consisted of most of the mid and southern parts of County Down , with the north included in North Down . Of the post 1973 districts, it contained all of Down and parts of Banbridge and Newry And Mourne .
In 1983 the seat was radically cut down as part of an expansion of Northern Ireland's constituencies from 12 to 17. Significant parts of the constituency were transferred to either Upper Bann or Newry And Armagh .
In boundary changes proposed by a review in 1995 , the seat was originally to be abolished and replaced by a new Mid Down constituency. This provoked a storm of protest and following a local enquiry minor changes were made with the seat losing one small section to Lagan Valley and another to Strangford . It still consists of parts of Down , Banbridge and Newry And Mourne districts.
At the time of writing the Boundary Commission has published provisional recommendations for modifying the boundaries of constituencies in Northern Ireland. For South Down, it proposes to add part of Newry from Newry And Armagh and part of Banbridge from Upper Bann , while losing some more of Down to Strangford . It is possible that one of more of these changes will be challenged in a round of public consultations.
For the history of the constituency prior to 1950 , see Down (UK Parliament Constituency) .
When initially created this seat had a clear Unionist majority, albeit with a strong Nationalist minority. However boundary changes, which have wrapped it closer around nationalist heartlands near Downpatrick and the Mournes have transformed South Down into a safe nationalist seat.
The Westminster seat was constistently held by the Ulster Unionist Party from its creation until 1987 . In the October 1974 General Election the former Conservative MP Enoch Powell defended the seat for the UUP, representing a coup for them as they gained the support of a high profile English politician, offering them a spokesperson to the United Kingdom as a whole.
Powell advocated a policy of ''integration'' for Northern Ireland whereby all forms of devolution would be wound up and the province governed as an integral part of the United Kingdom. As part of this he campaigned for the province to have the same ratio of MPs to population as in the rest of the United Kingdom, rather than fewer, which had previously been justified due to the existence of the devolved Stormont Parliament . Powell was successful in this but a side effect was that in his own constituency a significant block of unionist voters were removed, resulting in a nationalist majority. Powell managed to survive due to a combination of a split nationalist vote and personal popularity in the Catholic community, but in 1987 he narrowly lost to Eddie McGrady of the Social Democratic And Labour Party who has held the seat to date.
Since then the unionist vote has declined further due to boundary changes, which excluded mainly unionist Dromore and Saintfield , and a trend for many unionists to vote for McGrady at Westminster elections. This is interpreted by the SDLP as genuine cross-community support and by unionist parties as tactical voting.
Although the Sinn Fein vote in the constituency has been rising in the constituency, the SDLP is currently significantly ahead and look likely to retain the seat for the foreseeable future.
The Member Of Parliament since the 1987 General Election is Eddie McGrady of the Social Democratic And Labour Party . He defeated Enoch Powell of the Ulster Unionist Party who had represented the seat since 1974 .
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Democratic Unionist Party
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Jim Wells
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8,815
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183
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+33
|
|
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Alliance Party of Northern Ireland
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Julian Crozier
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613
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13
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00
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|
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Social Democratic and Labour Party
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-38
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|
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Democratic Unionist Party
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Jim Wells
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7,802
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150
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00
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|
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Alliance Party of Northern Ireland
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Betty Campbell
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685
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13
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-21
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Social Democratic and Labour Party
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Alliance Party of Northern Ireland
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J Crozier
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1,711
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35
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|
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Natural Law Party
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R McKeon
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219
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04
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Social Democratic and Labour Party
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Ulster Unionist Party
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Drew Nelson
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25,181
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409
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Sinn Féin
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Sean Fitzpatrick
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1,843
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30
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Alliance Party of Northern Ireland
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Michael Healey
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1,542
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25
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Conservative Party (UK)
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Stephanie McKenzie-Hill
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1,488
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24
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Social Democratic and Labour Party
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Sinn Féin
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G Ritchie
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2,363
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42
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Alliance Party of Northern Ireland
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S E Laird
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1,069
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19
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Workers Party (Ireland)
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D O'Hagan
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675
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12
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Social Democratic and Labour Party
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Ulster Unionist Party
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Sinn Féin
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Hugh McDowell
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2,963
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Workers Party (Ireland)
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Sean Magee
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522
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Sinn Féin
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P Fitzsimmons
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4,074
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79
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Democratic Unionist Party
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C Harvey
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3,743
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73
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Alliance Party of Northern Ireland
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P M D Forde
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1,823
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36
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Workers Party (Ireland)
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M Magee
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851
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17
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Alliance Party of Northern Ireland
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P M D Forde
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4,407
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68
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Irish Independence Party
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J E Markey
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1,853
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29
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Republican Clubs
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D O'Hagan
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1,682
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26
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Social Democratic and Labour Party
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S Holywood
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30,047
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454
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Republican Clubs
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G O'Hanlon
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2,327
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35
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Communist Party of Ireland (Marxist-Leninist)
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D Vipond
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152
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02
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Social Democratic and Labour Party
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S Holywood
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25,486
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428
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Republican Clubs
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H Golding
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3,046
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51
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|
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Unity (Northern Ireland)
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H Golding
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21,676
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337
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Ulster Liberal Party
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J G Quinn
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7,747
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121
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The six MLAs for the constituency elected in the 2003 Election are:
In the 1998 Election the six MLAs elected were:
In the 1996 election to the Northern Ireland Peace Forum, 5 Forum members were elected from South Down. They were as follows:
In 1982 elections were held for an Assembly for Northern Ireland to hold the Secretary Of State to account, in the hope that this would be the first step towards restoring devolution. South Down elected 7 members as follows:
1982 - 1986
In 1975 elections were held to a Constitutional Convention which sought (unsuccessfully) to generate a consensus on the future of the province. The seven members elected from South Down were:
In 1973 elections were held to the Assembly set up under the Sunningdale Agreement . The seven members elected from South Down were:
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