Northern Ireland

Battle Lines Drawn in General Election – On This Day in 1974

Former SDLP leaders Gerry Fitt and John Hume
Former SDLP leaders Gerry Fitt and John Hume
By Cormac Moore
February 8 1974

Britain’s general election will be fought against the backdrop of the economic and industrial crisis – but the 12 Northern Ireland seats at Westminster will be contested on the issues of power-sharing in the Assembly, internment and the establishment of a Council of Ireland.

Within hours of the announcement by Mr Edward Heath, the British Prime Minister, fixing the election date, right-wing Unionist leaders were urging their supporters: “Forget about the power shortage and concentrate on getting rid of power-sharing.”

And last night appeals for unionist unity were made by Mr Harry West, leader of the Official Unionist Party; Mr William Craig, the Vanguard leader, and the Rev Ian Paisley, the Democratic Unionist Party chief, when they addressed a meeting in Waterside, Derry. Mr West said: “We want to ensure that unionist does not oppose unionist. We hope to run a single candidate in each constituency and not split the unionist vote.”

The unionist vote will, however, be split in all the constituencies. Mr Brian Faulkner’s Assembly Unionist Party will be in the field and indications last night were that there would be a record number of candidates.

The Social Democratic and Labour Party, led by Mr Gerry Fitt, MP for West Belfast at Westminster and Deputy Chief Executive in the Northern Ireland Assembly, is committed in principle to contesting all 12 seats. It is highly unlikely, in fact, that this will be the case.

The Party’s candidates will be announced on Wednesday or Thursday next, following a weekend conference when the advice of local branches throughout the north will be considered in the context of possible success in their constituencies.

Mr Fitt, as the only SDLP MP at Westminster, is expected to lay claim again to West Belfast and it is believed that candidates will be nominated in Mid-Ulster to fight Mrs Bernadette McAliskey (formerly Miss Devlin) and Fermanagh and South Tyrone in an attempt to wrest the seat from Mr Frank McManus. Mrs McAliskey and Mr McManus are both Unity MPs. The danger in both constituencies is that a split vote on the anti-unionist side could give the seats to unionist candidates. Against this, the near-certainty of a split unionist vote could send them back for another term at Westminster.

With one candidate named last night, the Republican Clubs are to decide at the weekend which, if any, of the other 11 seats are to be contested. It is expected that a candidate will be fielded in West Belfast against Mr Fitt. One seat not to be fought by the Republican Clubs is Mid-Ulster where they will throw their weight behind Mrs McAliskey.
By a calling a general election, British prime minister Ted Heath placed the already strained power-sharing executive in Northern Ireland under severe pressure, as anti-executive unionists decided to fight the election on removing the power-sharing structures.