Foyle (UK Parliament constituency)

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.

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 in 2008.

Prior to the 2024 general election, Claudy and Eglinton were transferred to East Londonderry, and Slievekirk was transferred to West Tyrone.

The constituency is currently composed of the following wards of the District of Derry and Strabane:

• Ballymagroarty, Brandywell, Carn Hill, Caw, City Walls, Clondermot, Creggan, Creggan South, Culmore, Drumahoe, Ebrington, Enagh, Foyle Springs, Galliagh, Kilfennan, Lisnagelvin, Madam's Bank, New Buildings, Northland, Shantallow, Shantallow East, Sheriff's Mountain, Skeoge, Springtown, and Victoria.

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.

History

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.

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.

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.

Elections

Elections in the 2020s

Elections in the 2010s

|reg. electors = 74,360 This seat saw the largest decrease in vote share for Sinn Féin at the 2019 general election. |reg. electors = 70,324

|reg. electors = 70,036

|reg. electors = 65,843

Elections in the 2000s

|reg. electors = 68,758

|reg. electors = 70,943

Elections in the 1990s

|reg. electors = 67,905

|reg. electors = 74,673

Elections in the 1980s

|reg. electors = 70,519

|reg. electors = 66,976

References

References

1. "'Foyle', June 1983 up to May 1997". Cognitive Computing Limited.
2. "The Parliamentary Constituencies (Northern Ireland) Order 2008 No".
3. (23 June 2023). "Final Recommendations Report of the 2023 Review of Parliamentary Constituencies.PDF".
4. (2023-07-02). "Boundary Commission publish their 2023 Review of Parliamentary Consitutencies – Northern Ireland Elects".
5. "Revised estimates of leave vote in Westminster constituencies".
6. (13 June 2017). "Foyle MLA to raise concerns over 'stolen votes' with election chief". [[The News Letter.
7. (9 June 2017). "Claims of Foyle vote theft mount – SDLP to meet with Electoral Office". [[Belfast Telegraph]].
8. (2024-06-07). "Statement of Persons Nominated and Notice of Poll".
9. "Foyle – General election results 2024". BBC News.
10. "Foyle Parliamentary constituency". BBC News.
11. (28 January 2020). "General Election 2019: results and analysis". House of Commons Library.
12. (11 May 2017). "Election of a Member of Parliament for the FOYLE Constituency – Statement of Persons Nominated and Notice of Poll". Electoral Office of Northern Ireland.
13. "Election Data 2015". [[Electoral Calculus]].
14. "The Electoral Office of Northern Ireland – EONI".
15. "Election Data 2010". [[Electoral Calculus]].
16. "[http://www.sdlp.ie/index.php/newsroom_media/newsarticle/durkan_selected_as_foyle_westminster_candidate/ Durkan selected as Foyle Westminster candidate] {{Webarchive. link. (7 March 2016 ", SDLP)
17. [https://web.archive.org/web/20080626172819/http://ukpollingreport.co.uk/guide/seat-profiles/foyle Foyle], UKPollingReport
18. [http://www.londonderrysentinel.co.uk/news/Harding-named-UUP-candidate-in.6197430.jp Harding named UUP candidate in forthcoming election], ''[[Londonderry Sentinel]]'', 1 April 2010
19. [http://www.people-before-profit.org/node/340 Vote People Before Profit Alliance in May's Westminster Election] {{Webarchive. link. (29 September 2023 , [[People Before Profit Alliance]], 24 March 2010)
20. [http://www.allianceparty.org/news/005110/alliance_list_of_candidates.html Alliance List of Candidates] {{webarchive. link. (4 May 2010 , [[Alliance Party of Northern Ireland]], 6 May 2010)
21. "Election Data 2005". [[Electoral Calculus]].
22. "Election Data 2001". [[Electoral Calculus]].
23. "Election Data 1997". [[Electoral Calculus]].
24. "Election Data 1992". [[Electoral Calculus]].
25. "Election Data 1987". [[Electoral Calculus]].
26. "Election Data 1983". [[Electoral Calculus]].