1983–1997: The District of Londonderry, and the District of Strabane wards of Artigarvan, Dunnamanagh, East, North, Slievekirk, South, and West. 1997–2010: The District of Derry. 2010–present: The District of Derry wards of Altnagelvin, Ballynashallog, Beechwood, Brandywell, Carn Hill, Caw, Clondermot, Creggan Central, Creggan South, Crevagh, Culmore, Ebrington, Eglinton, Enagh, Foyle Springs, Holly Mount, Kilfennan, Lisnagelvin, New Buildings, Pennyburn, Rosemount, Shantallow East, Shantallow West, Springtown, Strand, The Diamond, Victoria, and Westland. The seat was created in boundary changes in 1983, as part of an expansion of Northern Ireland's constituencies from 12 to 17, and was predominantly made up from the old Londonderry constituency. From further revisions in 1995, and until the 2008 revision, it covered exactly the same area as Derry City Council. at night The name comes from the River Foyle which the city lies on and is used to avoid the contentious names of Derry or Londonderry, as well as to cover the areas of County Tyrone that were originally in the constituency. Prior to the 2010 general election the transfer of Claudy and Banagher wards to East Londonderry were approved through the passing of the Northern Ireland Parliamentary Constituencies Order in 2008.
History
For the history of the equivalent constituency prior to 1983, see Londonderry. The constituency is overwhelmingly nationalist and in many elections has often had the strongest vote for the Social Democratic and Labour Party in the whole of Northern Ireland. At the seat's creation in 1983, SDLP leader John Hume won the new seat, becoming the party's only MP after it lost Belfast West to Sinn Féin. There had been much speculation that with the gradual retirement of Hume from politics, the SDLP vote might collapse. In the 2003 Northern Ireland Assembly election, the SDLP lost 11.5% of the vote and were only narrowly ahead of Sinn Féin. Hume's retirement led to many questioning whether Mark Durkan, Hume's successor as leader, could hold on to the seat. However, in the 2005 general election he did so. The decline in the Unionist vote suggests that some Unionist voters tactically voted for Durkan. Durkan retained the seat in 2010. This seat also gave the Alliance Party their worst share of the vote in Northern Ireland, polling just 0.6% of the votes. Durkan was re-elected to a third term in 2015, increasing his share of the vote to 47.9% and winning a majority of 6,046 votes. In the 2016 referendum to leave the European Union, the constituency voted remain by 78.3%. This was the sixth highest support for remain for a constituency, and the highest support for remain in Northern Ireland. In the General Election 2017, the seat was won by Elisha McCallion, of Sinn Féin who won with a majority of only 169 votes. Following the election, concerns about electoral malpractice were raised with the Electoral Office by the SDLP and People Before Profit's Eamonn McCann. In the General Election 2019, the seat was recaptured by SDLP leader Colum Eastwood. Sinn Féin's vote dropped by 46.5% of its 2017 vote to 20.7% of the total - the lowest percentage share that that party had won in any general election in the constituency since 1992.
Members of Parliament
The Member of Parliament since the 2019 UK General Election is Colum Eastwood of the SDLP. He succeeded Elisha McCallion of Sinn Féin to regain the seat which the SDLP had held from its 1983 creation until 2017. The constituency was previously represented by John Hume, former leader of the SDLP and recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize.
Elections
Elections in the 2010s
This seat saw the largest decrease in vote share for Sinn Féin at the 2019 general election.
