Northern Ireland is different

It is easy when considering the political situation in the United Kingdom to forget about Northern Ireland, but right now a political party from Northern Ireland is acting as kingmaker in the House of Commons.

General elections in this country can be very predictable.  Every general election in living memory has seen the Labour Party and the Conservatives emerge as the two biggest parties.  Parliamentary seats in England are only very rarely won by any party other than the Conservative Party, the Labour Party, or the Liberal Democrats.  Many parliamentary seats have not passed from one party to another in many decades – or perhaps ever.

Quite simply it seems that the English are not very adventurous when it comes to voting.  Fortunately the same is not true of the Northern Irish.

There are currently eighteen parliamentary seats in Northern Ireland.  One of these – Antrim North – has been held by the same party continuously since the early 1970s.  All the other seats have changed hands at least once – and in one case as many as five times – since the general election of 1983.  One of those seats has existed since only 1997, but even that has already changed hands once.

In 1983 the big player in Northern Ireland politics was the Ulster Unionist Party, which won eleven of the seventeen seats.  The Democratic Unionist Party won just three; while the Social Democratic and Labour Party and Sinn Fein and the Ulster Popular Unionist Party won one seat each.  As an aside, the latter party was one which never existed outside of the North Down constituency, and which ceased to exist after the death of its one MP in 1995.

The situation today is very different, with neither the SDLP nor the UUP having won any seats in parliament.  The DUP is now the big player with ten seats, Sinn Fein won seven, and the remaining seat is held by an independent.

Looking at second places, it becomes clear how strong the two main parties are.  The DUP have five second places, and Sinn Fein four.  By contrast, the SDLP, the UUP, and the Alliance Party each have three second places.

Maybe the English could learn something from the Northern Irish – in fact I’m certain that they can.  Unfortunately I am equally certain that they won’t – but I have no objection to being proven wrong.

Related previous posts include:
Theresa May and the DUP