Upper Bann

No boundary changes

Profile: Covers Craigavon and most of Banbridge councils. Upper Bann is to the south of Lough Neagh and is largely urban, covering the towns of Lurgan and Portadown and the string of estates between them that had been intended to form the linear city of Craigavon. Further south it also included Banbridge Town.

This is a majority protestant seat. Both Lurgan and Portadown are heavily segragated with solidly Catholic areas to the north (including the Gavaghy Road area in Portadown, traditionally a flashpoint in the marching season as the Orange Order seak to march from Portadown to Drumcree) and protestant areas to the South. The Brownlow estates between the two towns were once brave new attempts at mixed communities, but have now become seriously deprived, downgraded, and largely Catholic. Banbridge to the south is more mixed and more comfortable, and the rural areas around it are solidly protestant.

This was the seat of David Trimble, the then Ulster Unionist leader, until 2005 when it was dramatically lost to the DUP after a bitter fight, the Alliance having stood down in his favour. Returns 2 DUP, 2 UUP, 1 Sinn Fein and 1 SDLP to the Assembly.

Current MP: David Simpson (DUP) born 1959. Former mayor of Craigavon. MLA for Upper Bann. First elected as MP for Upper Bann in 2005.