East Londonderry
Notional 2005 Results:
DUP: 15736 (41%)
UUP: 7601 (19.8%)
SDLP: 7528 (19.6%)
SF: 6377 (16.6%)
Alliance: 924 (2.4%)
Other: 198 (0.5%)
Majority: 8135 (21.2%)
2005 Result:
DUP: 15225 (42.9%)
UU: 7498 (21.1%)
SDLP: 6077 (17.1%)
SF: 5709 (16.1%)
Alliance: 924 (2.6%)
Ind: 71 (0.2%)
Majority: 7727 (21.8%)
Boundary Changes: Gains two wards from Foyle: Banager and Claudy, the two most rural wards from the fringe of Derry council.
Profile: East Londonderry contains not just the eastern part of County Londonderry, but also part of Antrim around Coleraine. Coleraine is by far the largest population centre in the constituency, a relatively prosperous town in the east of seat, though there are deprived estates there that suffer from paramilitary violence. To the north of Coleraine are the two coastal resorts of Portrush, with its nighclubs and amusement park, and the more sedate and upmarket Portstewart. Both are popular with students from the nearby University of Ulster campus at Coleraine.
Further west the seat becomes progressively more Catholic. The other large population centre is Limavady, beyond that there are villages like Dungiven at the feet of the Sperrin mountains in the south of the seat and dormitory villages for Derry like Greysteel and Claudy.
The constituency is about 60:40 protestant. Like the majority of unionist seats it was gained by the DUP from the Ulser Unionists in 2001. At assembly level the seat returns 3 DUP members, 1 ulster unionist, 1 SDLP and 1 Sinn Fein.
Current MP: Gregory Campbell (DUP) born 1953. Educated at Londonderry Technical College. Londonderry councillor from 1981, apart from a brief break after resigning in protest at the change of name to Derry City Council. Contested Foyle 1983, 1987, 1992, East Londonderry 1997. Elected as MP for East Londonderry in 2001. Member of the Northern Ireland Assembly since 1998. NI minister for regional development 1999-2000 & 2001-2002 and for social development 2000-2001.
Candidates: 
Thomas Conway (SDLP) Derry councillor.
Billy Leonard (Sinn Fein) Former RUC police officer and Orange order member. MLA for East Londonderry since 2009. Coleraine councillor. Contested East Londonderry 2005.
Lesley McAuley (UCUNF)
They could just as well leave it as is, since there is no part of the proposed seat which is not in the county Londonderry (which is more than can be said for ‘Mid Tyrone’ or North Antrim and their respective counties). In fact the existing East Londonderry seat does contain a small part of County Antrim while mucy of the eastern half of county Londonderry is in the Mid Ulster seat. On these proposewd boundaries, East Londondery becomes a more appropriate name than currently.
Sounds like it is to do with ‘depoliticising’ the nameing of the constituency. Unionists would rightly object if Foyle were to be named Derry, and no doubt nationalists would object if it were called Londonderry.
At present though, there is a Londonderry seat without a corresponding derry seat to keep nationalists happy.
As a unionist, I’d be happy to see Foyle renamed as Londonderry City or Londonderry West, and keep this the same as at present. But logically, it makes little sense going to the trouble of avoiding a Londonderry name for the Foyle seat, and then calling this one Londonderry East. It looks like a shoddy compromise.
I suppose at least Foyle and Glenshane sound nice and typically Irish in the images they invoke.
I agree with Pete that ‘East Londonderry’ fits the proposed seat better than it does the current one. As Shaun says, the new name must be to try to depoliticise the naming issue in what is now a majority seat.
Of course, unlike the City there isn’t any debate on whether the County was previously called Derry before the London prefix was added: the county was created as County Londonderry.
It is a bit strange to call it after a road, named in turn after an 18th century highwayman – was this a subtle joke by the commission about its likely MP?
If a depoliticised geographical feature name is needed, how about ‘Sperrins’? Most of the Sperrins are in the seat and they form the border between the current E Lo.
Sorry, the last bit should have read “the current East Londonderry and Mid Ulster seats.”
I’m actually tempted to cheekily submit the name “Mid Londonderry” to the boundary commission as an alternative name.
In my submission to the commission I suggested they call the seat Sperrin, a more recognisable geographical feature and include the town of Cookstown, while omitting the two Derry wards and most of Coleraine district.