General Election of Thursday 4 July 2024

Boundary Revisions

Although the constituencies in Northern Ireland in 2024 appear to be much the same as in 2019 (only one minor change to a name), the changes in boundaries are significant. This was in line with a UK-wide policy to make the electorates of all constituencies roughly equal (with some exceptions, not relevant to Northern Ireland). The number of seats remains the same at eighteen.

The details are contained in Final Recommendations Report of the 2023 Review of Parliamentary Constituencies published by the Boundary Commission for Northern Ireland in June 2023.

The draft Order in Council giving effect to the new Parliamentary constituency boundaries recommendations was submitted by the Government to the Privy Council Office on 27 October 2023 and approved at the Privy Council on 15 November 2023. The Parliamentary Constituencies Order 2023 came into force on 29 November 2023, and the new boundaries took effect for the July 2024 UK Parliamentary election.

See this map of the revised constituencies in Northern Ireland (see page 119).

Election

The General Election was held on Thursday 4 July 2024. Polling took place between 7am and 10pm. Counting took place overnight and all counts were complete by Friday morning.

All seats in this election were single member, elected using ‘first past the post’ ie the candidate with the most votes after a single count is the winner. All candidates are required to pay a deposit of £500. This is returned if they gain more than 5% of the total votes cast.

Results

Despite not making any gains, Sinn Féin ended up with the largest number of seats for the first time. The DUP lost three seats: Antrim North to TUV (their first MP), Antrim South to UUP (their first MP elected since 2015) and Lagan Valley to Alliance. However, Alliance lost its Down North seat to an Independent. The SDLP retained their two seats.

Results Summary

Seats

 7 (=);  5 (-3);  2 (=);  1 (=);  1 (+1);  1 (+1);  1 (+1)

 
In the results below, GAIN by party and CHANGE of individual are highlighted. The Index of Change (IoC) is an indication of how the constituency has been affected by boundary revisions. The official results are available from the Electoral Office for Northern Ireland.