North Down (UK Parliament constituency)

North Down
County constituency for the House of Commons
Boundary of North Down in Northern Ireland.
Current constituency
Created	1885, 1950
Member of parliament	Lady Hermon (Independent)
1885–1922
Replaced by	Down
Created from	Down
Overlaps
European Parliament constituency	Northern Ireland

North Down is a parliamentary constituency in the United Kingdom House of Commons. The current MP is Sylvia Hermon (Lady Hermon), first elected in the 2001 general election. Hermon represented the constituency on behalf of the Ulster Unionist Party until 2010, subsequently sitting as an Independent.

1950-1974: The Municipal Boroughs of Bangor and Newtownards, the Urban Districts of Donaghadee and Holywood, and the Rural Districts of Castlereagh, Hillsborough, and Newtownards.

1974-1983: The Municipal Boroughs of Bangor and Newtownards, the Urban Districts of Donaghadee and Holywood, the Rural District of North Down, in the Rural District of Castlereagh the district electoral divisions of Ballycultra, Craigavad, and Holywood Rural, and in the Rural District of Hillsborough the district electoral divisions of Annahilt, Ballykeel, Ballymacbrennan, Ballyskeagh, Ballyworfy, Blaris, Carryduff, Dromara, Drumbo, Glassdrumman, Hillsborough, Maze, Ouley, and Saintfield.

1983-1997: The District of North Down, and the District of Castlereagh wards of Ballyhanwood, Carrowreagh, Dundonald, Enler, Gilnahirk, and Tullycarnet.

1997-present: The District of North Down, and the District of Ards wards of Donaghadee North, Donaghadee South, and Millisle.

The county constituency was first created in 1885 from the northern part of Down. From the dissolution of Parliament in 1922, it was merged back into that constituency.

The seat was re-created in 1950 when the old two MP Down constituency was abolished as part of the move to single member seats. Originally the seat consisted of most of the northern parts of County Down, with the south included in South Down. In January 1980, the Boundary Commission's original proposals suggested significantly reducing the size of the constituency and renaming it 'Loughside' on the grounds that this would avoid confusion in the event of borough council elections being held on the same day. As a result, in 1983 the seat was radically cut down as part of an expansion of Northern Ireland's constituencies from 12 to 17, although the name remained unaltered. Significant parts of the constituency were transferred to the new Strangford constituency. In boundary changes proposed by a review in 1995, the seat exchanged territory with Strangford, losing the Dundonald area from Castlereagh and gaining a part of Ards.