February 1974 United Kingdom general election in Northern Ireland

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February 1974 United Kingdom general election in Northern Ireland - Wikipedia

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February 1974 United Kingdom general election in Northern Ireland

← 1970

28 February 1974

Oct. 1974 →

12 seats in Northern Ireland of the 635 seats in the House of Commons

	First party	Second party

Leader	Harry West	William Craig
Party	UUP	Vanguard
Leader since	Jan. 1974	1973
Leader's seat	Fermanagh and South Tyrone	Belfast East
Seats won	7	3
Seat change	1	New
Popular vote	232,103	75,944
Percentage	32.3%	10.6%

	Third party	Fourth party

Leader	Gerry Fitt	Ian Paisley
Party	SDLP	DUP
Leader since	1970	1971
Leader's seat	Belfast West	Antrim North
Seats won	1	1
Seat change	New	New
Popular vote	160,437	58,656
Percentage	22.4%	8.2%

The February 1974 United Kingdom general election in Northern Ireland was held on 28 February with 12 MPs elected in single-seat constituencies using first-past-the-post as part of the wider general election in the United Kingdom.

Results

The election took place soon after the Sunningdale Agreement, signed 9 December 1973. On 1 January 1974, an Executive was formed under the terms of the Agreement, based on the result of the 1973 Northern Ireland Assembly election, with Ulster Unionist Party leader Brian Faulkner as Chief Executive. It had six members from the UUP, four from the nationalist SDLP and one from the Alliance Party. These parties had both been founded in 1970.

Later in January 1974, the Ulster Unionist Council voted against participation in the Executive and Faulkner lost the leadership of the UUP to Harry West. West formed the United Ulster Unionist Council with the Vanguard Unionist Progressive Party (VUPP), founded in 1972 by William Craig, and the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), founded in 1971 by Ian Paisley. They agreed that only one anti-Sunningdale Unionist would stand in each constituency. This strategy proved successful, with the UUUC winning 11 of the 12 seats. Seven supporters of Faulkner stood as Pro-Assembly Unionists, including outgoing MPs Stanley McMaster and Rafton Pounder.

On the nationalist side, former Republican Labour Party leader Gerry Fitt had formed the Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP). Fitt held his seat in Belfast West, but the split in the nationalist vote in Fermanagh and South Tyrone allowed Harry West to gain a seat from Unity. Bernadette McAliskey, who had held a seat for Unity since 1969 for Mid Ulster, contested as an independent but lost, again where a split in the nationalist vote allowed a new Unionist MP to gain.

In the election as a whole, the Conservative Party failed to return to government and the Labour Party formed a minority government led by Harold Wilson as Prime Minister.

Results^[1]^[2]^[3]
Party		MPs		Votes
Party		No.	Change	No.	%	Change
	UUP	7	1	232,103	32.3%	21.9
	Vanguard	3	3	75,944	10.6%	New
	DUP	1	1	58,656	8.2%	New
	SDLP	1	1	160,437	22.4%	New
	Pro-Assembly Unionist	0		94,301	13.1%	Splinter
	Alliance	0		22,660	3.2%	New
	Unity	0	2	17,593	2.4%	15.7
	NI Labour	0		15,483	2.2%	10.4
	Republican Clubs	0		15,152	2.1%	2.1
	Independent	0		25,297	3.6%	3.2
Total		12		723,288	100

MPs elected

Constituency		MP
Antrim North	DUP	Ian Paisley
Antrim South	UUP	James Molyneaux
Armagh	UUP	Harold McCusker
Belfast East	Vanguard	William Craig
Belfast North	UUP	John Carson
Belfast South	Vanguard	Robert Bradford
Belfast West	SDLP	Gerry Fitt
Down North	UUP	Jim Kilfedder
Down South	UUP	Lawrence Orr
Fermanagh and South Tyrone	UUP	Harry West
Londonderry	UUP	William Ross
Mid Ulster	Vanguard	John Dunlop

References

^ Walker, Brian Mercer (1992). Parliamentary Election Results in Ireland, 1918–1992 (New History of Ireland). Dublin: Royal Irish Academy. pp. 29–30. ISBN 0901714968.
^ "Elections to the United Kingdom Parliament held in Northern Ireland: General Election 1974 February". ElectionsIreland.org. Archived from the original on 9 February 2019. Retrieved 9 February 2019.
^ "Westminster election, 28 February 1974". ARK: Northern Ireland Elections. Archived from the original on 19 December 2018. Retrieved 9 February 2019.

v t e February 1974 United Kingdom general election
MPs elected Scotland Wales Opinion polling
Incumbent prime minister: Edward Heath (Conservative) Appointed prime minister: Harold Wilson (Labour)
Parties elected to the House of Commons	Labour (Harold Wilson) Conservative (Edward Heath) Liberal (Jeremy Thorpe) Scottish National Party (William Wolfe) Ulster Unionist Party (Harry West) Vanguard (William Craig) Plaid Cymru (Gwynfor Evans) SDLP (Gerry Fitt) Democratic Unionist Party (Ian Paisley) Democratic Labour Party (Dick Taverne)
Results by area	Northern Ireland Scotland
See also	Accession of the United Kingdom to the European Communities Campbell Adamson Pro-Assembly Unionists Sunningdale Agreement Three-Day Week October 1974 United Kingdom general election

v t e Elections and referendums in Northern Ireland
NI Parliament elections	1921 1925 1929 1933 1938 1945 1949 1953 1958 1962 1965 1969
Ad-hoc elections	1973 1975 1982 1996
Assembly elections	1998 2003 2007 2011 2016 2017 2022 Next
European elections	1979 1984 1989 1994 1999 2004 2009 2014 2019
Local elections	1924 1936 1946 1949 1952 1955 1958 1961 1964 1967 1973 1977 1981 1985 1989 1993 1997 2001 2005 2011 2014 2019 2023
Referendums	1973 1998
UK general elections	1922 1923 1924 1929 1931 1935 1945 1950 1951 1955 1959 1964 1966 1970 1974 (Feb) 1974 (Oct) 1979 1983 1987 1992 1997 2001 2005 2010 2015 2017 2019 2024

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