Foyle
County constituency for theHouse of Commons
Interactive map of boundaries from 2024
Location within Northern Ireland
Districts of Northern Ireland	Derry City and Strabane District Council
Electorate	73,456 (July 2024)
Major settlements	Derry
Current constituency
Created	1983
Member of Parliament	Colum Eastwood (SDLP)
Seats	1
Created from	Londonderry Mid Ulster (small parts of)[1]

Foyle is aconstituency inNorthern Ireland coveringDerry, represented in theHouse of Commons of theUK Parliament. Its currentMember of Parliament (MP) has beenColum Eastwood of theSDLP since2019.

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 oldLondonderry constituency. From further revisions in 1995 (when it lost parts of the district ofStrabane to theWest Tyrone constituency), and until the 2008 revision, it covered exactly the same area asDerry City Council.

Prior to the2010 general election the transfer of Claudy and Banagher wards to East Londonderry were approved through the passing of the Northern Ireland Parliamentary Constituencies Order^[2] in 2008.

Prior to the2024 general election, Claudy and Eglinton were transferred toEast Londonderry, and Slievekirk was transferred toWest Tyrone.^[3][4]

The constituency is currently composed of the following wards of theDistrict of Derry and Strabane:

• Ballymagroarty, Brandywell, Carn Hill, Caw, City Walls, Clondermot, Creggan, Creggan South, Culmore, Drumahoe, Ebrington, Enagh, Foyle Springs, Galliagh, Kilfennan, Lisnagelvin, Madam's Bank, New Buildings, Northland, Shantallow, Shantallow East, Sheriff's Mountain, Skeoge, Springtown, and Victoria.

The name comes from theRiver Foyle which the city lies on and is used to avoid thecontentious names ofDerry orLondonderry, as well as to cover the areas ofCounty Tyrone that were originally in the constituency. The seat isnationalist-leaning and residents' wealth is below average for the UK.

The wards within the constituency are among the poorest in the UK with high unemployment, high welfare dependency and the lowest employment rate for Northern Ireland.

The seat has typically been an SDLP stronghold however in 2017 Sinn Féin gained the seat for the first time with the smallest majority in Northern Ireland of 169. In 2019 SDLP leader Colum Eastwood won the seat back with an 18% swing and 17,000 majority.

At the seat's creation at the1983 general election,SDLP leaderJohn Hume won the new seat, becoming the party's only MP after it lostBelfast West toSinn Féin. Hume retained the seat until his retirement at the2005 general election, when he was succeeded by the SDLP'sMark Durkan.

Durkan retained the seat in2010. This seat also gave theAlliance 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 in2015, increasing his share of the vote to 47.9% and winning a majority of 6,046 votes.

In the2016 referendum to leave the European Union, theconstituency was estimated to have 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.^[5]

In the2017 election, the seat was won byElisha McCallion ofSinn Féin, who won with a majority of just 169 votes over Mark Durkan. Following the election, concerns about electoral malpractice were raised with the Electoral Office by the SDLP andPeople Before Profit'sEamonn McCann.^[6][7]

In the2019 election, the seat was recaptured by SDLP leaderColum Eastwood. Sinn Féin's vote share dropped significantly from 39.7% in 2017 to 20.7% in 2019, which was the lowest percentage share that that party had won in any general election in the constituency since 1992.

The Member of Parliament since the2019 UK General Election isColum Eastwood of theSDLP. He succeededElisha McCallion ofSinn Féin to regain the seat which the SDLP had held from its 1983 creation until 2017. The constituency was previously represented byJohn Hume, former leader of the SDLP and recipient of theNobel Peace Prize.

This seat saw the largest decrease in vote share for Sinn Féin at the 2019 general election.^[11]

• Foyle andCity of Londonderry were neighbouring constituencies in the Northern Ireland Parliament from 1929 to 1973.
• Londonderry City was a borough constituency in the UK parliament from the Act of Union to 1922.

• 2017 Election House of Commons Library 2017 Election report
• A Vision Of Britain Through Time (Constituency elector numbers)
• Foyle UK Parliament constituency (boundaries April 2010 – May 2024) atMapIt UK
• Foyle UK Parliament constituency (boundaries from June 2024) atMapIt UK

55°01′34″N7°23′46″W / 55.026°N 7.396°W /55.026; -7.396

• Westminster Parliamentary constituencies in Northern Ireland
• Constituencies of the Parliament of the United Kingdom established in 1983
• Politics of Derry (city)

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