1979 United Kingdom general election in Northern Ireland

The election was after Labour Party prime minister James Callaghan lost a vote of confidence by 311 votes to 310. The election was won by the Conservative Party led by Margaret Thatcher, and began a period of 18-year government by the party.

Ulster Unionist leader Harry West failed to win a seat for the second time, and would resign later that year after failing to win a seat at the first European Parliament election. The Democratic Unionist Party increased its representation, and the Vanguard Unionist Progressive Party had disbanded.

Frank Maguire was re-elected as an Independent Nationalist, beating the leaders of both the UUP and the new United Ulster Unionist Party, as well as Austin Currie, a member of the SDLP standing without the support of the party. Maguire's death on 5 March 1981 led by a by-election won by Bobby Sands, an IRA prisoner who died later that year as a result of a hunger strike. The Representation of the People Act 1981 disqualified prisoners detained for more than a year from membership of the House of Commons, so the resulting by-election was contested by Sands's election agent Owen Carron, rather than by another prison on hunger strike.

Results[1][2]

Party		MPs		Votes
		No.	Change	No.	%	Change
	UUP	5	1	254,578	36.6%	0.1
	DUP	3	2	70,795	10.2%	1.7
	SDLP	1	1	126,235	18.2%	4.2
	UUUP	1	New	39,856	5.7%	5.7
	Independent Unionist	1	1	36,989	5.5%	4.8
	Independent Nationalist	1		22,398	3.2%	1.5
	Alliance	0		82,892	11.9%	5.5
	Republican Clubs	0		12,098	1.7%	1.3
	Independent SDLP	0		10,795	1.6%	1.6
	Unionist Party NI	0		8,021	1.2%	1.9
	NI Labour	0		4,411	0.6%	1.0
	United Labour	0		1,895	0.3%	0.3
	Independent	0		1,578	0.2%	0.3
Total		12		672,541	100