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Eddie McGrady
Sitting MP, Eddie McGrady, has represented this constituency since 1987 when he defeated Enoch Powell at the fourth attempt and was elected to serve as a member of the new Legislative Assembly in 1998. At Westminster, he is the SDLP Chief Whip and is responsible for party policy on the Environment, Housing, Local Government, Economy and Rural Development, and Public Administration.
Unenthusiastic at the Hume-Adams dialogue of the late 1980s, he was a member of the SDLP front bench team during the Brooke-Mayhew Talks, the Forum for Peace and Reconciliation, and the multiparty negotiations that culminated in the Good Friday Agreement. Initially a local councillor, Mr McGrady has been involved in Northern Ireland politics for more than forty years. In 1970, he became the first SDLP Chairman. He was elected to the Northern Ireland Assembly in 1973 serving as Minister for Policy, Planning and Co-ordination in the short-lived power-sharing Executive of 1974. He was also elected to the Northern Ireland constitutional convention. |
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Eddie McGrady (SDLP)
Dermot Nesbitt (UUP)
Mick Murphy (SF)
Jim Wells (DUP)
Betty Campbell (Alliance)
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Profile: South Down
The parliamentary consistency of South Down comprises all of the Down district council area with the exception of three wards (Derryboy, Killyleagh and Saintfield) as well as 4 wards in the Banbridge district (Ballyward, Bannside, Katesbridge, Rathfriland) and 13 wards in the Newry and Mourne local government district. It runs from Ballynahinch, Downpatrick and Ardglass in the north and east, through south Down taking in the coastal towns of Newcastle, Kilkeel, Rostrevor and Warrenpoint and extending to the hinterland of Annaclone, Castlewellan and Rathfriland. Agriculture and tourism dominate the local economy.
Since 1987, the constituency has become a SDLP stronghold reflecting its growing nationalist majority. It is understood to have returned the highest "Yes" vote in Northern Ireland in the referendum on the Good Friday Agreement in May 1998.
In 1997, the SDLP posted their best-ever result winning 53% of the votes with McGrady romping home with a majority of 9,933. This performance easily saw off the challenge of UUP candidate, Dermot Nesbitt, despite the fact that he had been given a free run by the other Unionist parties in the constituency. However the Sinn Féin presence in the constituency has been growing particularly since the mid-1990s. Polling just 3% in the 1992 Westminster election, the party's vote grew to more than 10% in the last Westminster election. And in the 1998 Assembly elections, their vote exceeded 15%.
The candidates for the forthcoming election are Eddie McGrady (SDLP), Dermot Nesbitt (UUP), Mick Murphy (SF) and Jim Wells (DUP) all of whom represent the constituency in the Legislative Assembly with Betty Campbell standing for Alliance. Despite the improvement of Sinn Féin's electoral fortunes in the constituency over recent years, McGrady looks certain to be returned to Westminster for his fourth consecutive term.
Constituency Profile | Assembly '98
Results | Westminster '97 Results
| Westminster '92 Results
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