1979 United Kingdom general election in Northern Ireland

The 1979 United Kingdom general election in Northern Ireland was held on 3 May with 12 MPs elected in single-seat constituencies using first-past-the-post as part of the wider general election in the United Kingdom.

1979 United Kingdom general election in Northern Ireland

← Oct. 1974 3 May 1979 1983 →
12 seats in Northern Ireland of the 635 seats in the House of Commons
First party Second party   Leader Harry West Ian Paisley Party UUP DUP Leader since Jan. 1974 1971 Leader's seat Fermanagh and South Tyrone defeated Antrim North Seats won 5 3 Seat change 1 2 Popular vote 254,578 70,795 Percentage 36.6% 10.2%   Third party Fourth party   Leader Gerry Fitt Ernest Baird Party SDLP UUUP Leader since 1970 1975 Leader's seat Belfast West Fermanagh and South Tyrone defeated Seats won 1 1 Seat change New Popular vote 126,235 39,856 Percentage 18.2% 5.7%

Results summary

The election was after Labour Party prime minister James Callaghan lost a vote of confidence by 311 votes to 310. The election was won by the Conservative Party led by Margaret Thatcher, and began a period of 18-year government by the party.

Ulster Unionist leader Harry West failed to win a seat for the second time, and would resign later that year after failing to win a seat at the first European Parliament election. The Democratic Unionist Party increased its representation, and the Vanguard Unionist Progressive Party had disbanded.

Frank Maguire was re-elected as an Independent Nationalist, beating the leaders of both the UUP and the new United Ulster Unionist Party, as well as Austin Currie, a member of the SDLP standing without the support of the party. Maguire's death on 5 March 1981 led to a by-election won by Bobby Sands, an IRA prisoner who died later that year as a result of a hunger strike. The Representation of the People Act 1981 disqualified prisoners detained for more than a year from membership of the House of Commons, so the resulting by-election was contested by Sands's election agent Owen Carron, rather than by another prisoner on hunger strike.

Results

Party		Seats					Aggregate Votes
		Total	Gains	Losses	Net +/-	Of all (%)	Total	Of all (%)	Difference
	UUP	5	0	1	1	41.7	254,578	36.6	0.1
	DUP	3	2	0	2	25.0	70,795	10.2	1.7
	SDLP	1	0	0		8.3	126,235	18.2	4.2
	UUUP	1	1	0	1	8.3	39,856	5.7	New
	Ind. Unionist	1	1	0	1	8.3	36,989	5.3	4.6
	Ind. Nationalist	1	0	0		8.3	22,398	3.2	1.5
	Alliance	0	0	0		0.0	82,892	11.9	5.5
	Irish Independence	0	0	0		0.0	23,086	3.3	New
	Republican Clubs	0	0	0		0.0	12,098	1.7	1.3
	Independent SDLP	0	0	0		0.0	10,795	1.6	New
	Unionist Party NI	0	0	0		0.0	8,021	1.2	1.9
	NI Labour	0	0	0		0.0	4,411	0.6	1.0
	United Labour	0	0	0		0.0	1,895	0.3	0.3
	Independent or other	0	0	0		0.0	1,578	0.2	0.3
Total		12					695,627

MPs elected

Constituency	Party		MP
Antrim North		DUP	Ian Paisley
Antrim South		UUP	James Molyneaux
Armagh		UUP	Harold McCusker
Belfast East		DUP	Peter Robinson
Belfast North		DUP	John McQuade
Belfast South		UUP	Robert Bradford
Belfast West		SDLP	Gerry Fitt
Down North		Ind. Unionist	Jim Kilfedder
Down South		UUP	Enoch Powell
Fermanagh and South Tyrone		Ind. Nationalist	Frank Maguire
Londonderry		UUP	William Ross
Mid Ulster		UUUP	John Dunlop

By-elections

Constituency	Date	Incumbent	Party		Winner	Party		Cause
Fermanagh and South Tyrone	9 April 1981	Frank Maguire		Ind. Nationalist	Bobby Sands		Anti H-Block	Death
Fermanagh and South Tyrone	20 August 1981	Bobby Sands		Anti H-Block	Owen Carron		Anti H-Block	Death from hunger strike
Belfast South	4 March 1982	Robert Bradford		UUP	Martin Smyth		UUP	Killed by the IRA