South Antrim

South Antrim may refer to:

South Antrim (Northern Ireland Parliament constituency)

Coordinates: 54°30′18″N 6°03′58″W / 54.505°N 6.066°W / 54.505; -6.066

South Antrim was a constituency of the Parliament of Northern Ireland.

The House of Commons (Method of Voting and Redistribution of Seats) Act (Northern Ireland) 1929 introduced first-past-the-post elections for 48 single-member constituencies (including Antrim South).

Boundaries and boundary changes

This constituency was one of seven county divisions in County Antrim from 1929, and, after 1969, one of nine. The changes in the vicinity of Belfast affected the boundaries of this division.

It comprised (in terms of then local government units) part of the rural district of Lisburn and the whole of the urban district of Lisburn. In 1969, the part of the rural district closest to Belfast became the new seat of Antrim, Larkfield.

Antrim South returned one member of Parliament from 1929 until the Parliament of Northern Ireland was temporarily suspended in 1972, and then formally abolished in 1973.

South Antrim (UK Parliament constituency)

Coordinates: 54°43′16″N 6°14′28″W / 54.721°N 6.241°W / 54.721; -6.241

South Antrim is a parliamentary constituency in the United Kingdom House of Commons represented since 2015 by Danny Kinahan of the Ulster Unionist Party.

Boundaries

From 1885, this constituency was one of four county divisions of the former Antrim constituency. It comprised the baronies of Massereene Upper, Massereene Lower, and Antrim Upper, and parts of the Baronies of Upper Toome and Belfast Upper, and so much of the Parliamentary Borough of Belfast as was in the County of Antrim.

It returned one Member of Parliament. In 1922, it was merged into a new Antrim constituency.

The seat was re-created in 1950 when the old Antrim two MP constituency was abolished as part of the final move to single member seats. The seat was reduced in size for the 1974 general election, with the town of Carrickfergus and the areas between it and Larne town transferred to North Antrim. Additionally some territory was transferred to Belfast West. Despite these changes, the seat had become the largest in the entire United Kingdom by the time of the Northern Ireland Assembly elections of 1982, by which time its electorate had passed the 131,000 mark. For the 1983 general election Northern Ireland received new seats. Consequently, South Antrim was significantly reduced, losing a lot of territory to the new seats of East Antrim and Lagan Valley as well as minor sections to Belfast West, Belfast North and Upper Bann. The new South Antrim which was fought for the 1983 election contained only 43% of the previous seat. In 1995 there were minor changes around the borders with North Belfast and West Belfast. The seat fought at the 2005 election encompassed the entirety of the district of Antrim and part of the district of Newtownabbey.