See main article: 1979 United Kingdom general election.
| Election Name: | 1979 United Kingdom general election in Northern Ireland |
| Country: | United Kingdom |
| Type: | parliamentary |
| Ongoing: | no |
| Previous Election: | October 1974 United Kingdom general election in Northern Ireland |
| Previous Year: | Oct. 1974 |
| Election Date: | 3 May 1979 |
| Next Election: | 1983 United Kingdom general election in Northern Ireland |
| Next Year: | 1983 |
| Seats For Election: | 12 seats in Northern Ireland of the 635 seats in the House of Commons |
| Leader1: | Harry West |
| Party1: | Ulster Unionist Party |
| Leader Since1: | Jan. 1974 |
| Leaders Seat1: | Fermanagh and South Tyrone defeated |
| Seats1: | 5 |
| Popular Vote1: | 254,578 |
| Percentage1: | 36.6% |
| Seat Change1: | 1 |
| Leader2: | Ian Paisley |
| Party2: | Democratic Unionist Party |
| Leader Since2: | 1971 |
| Leaders Seat2: | Antrim North |
| Seats2: | 3 |
| Popular Vote2: | 70,795 |
| Percentage2: | 10.2% |
| Seat Change2: | 2 |
| Leader4: | Gerry Fitt |
| Leader Since4: | 1970 |
| Party4: | Social Democratic and Labour Party |
| Leaders Seat4: | Belfast West |
| Seats4: | 1 |
| Popular Vote4: | 126,235 |
| Percentage4: | 18.2% |
| Leader5: | Ernest Baird |
| Leader Since5: | 1975 |
| Party5: | United Ulster Unionist Party |
| Leaders Seat5: | Fermanagh and South Tyrone defeated |
| Seats5: | 1 |
| Popular Vote5: | 39,856 |
| Percentage5: | 5.7% |
| Seat Change5: | New |
The 1979 United Kingdom general election in Northern Ireland was held on 3 May with 12 MPs elected in single-seat constituencies using first-past-the-post as part of the wider general election in the United Kingdom.
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 prisoner on hunger strike.
| Party | MPs | Votes | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No. | Change | No. | % | Change | |||
| 5 | 1 | 254,578 | 36.6% | 0.1 | |||
| 3 | 2 | 70,795 | 10.2% | 1.7 | |||
| 1 | 1 | 126,235 | 18.2% | 4.2 | |||
| 1 | New | 39,856 | 5.7% | 5.7 | |||
| 1 | 1 | 36,989 | 5.3% | 4.6 | |||
| 1 | 22,398 | 3.2% | 1.5 | ||||
| 0 | 82,892 | 11.9% | 5.5 | ||||
| 0 | New | 23,086 | 3.3% | 3.3 | |||
| 0 | 12,098 | 1.7% | 1.3 | ||||
| Independent SDLP | 0 | 10,795 | 1.6% | 1.6 | |||
| 0 | 8,021 | 1.2% | 1.9 | ||||
| 0 | 4,411 | 0.6% | 1.0 | ||||
| 0 | 1,895 | 0.3% | 0.3 | ||||
| or other | 0 | 1,578 | 0.2% | 0.3 | |||
| Total | 12 | 695,627 | 100 | ||||
| Constituency | Date | Incumbent | Party | Winner | Party | Cause | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fermanagh and South Tyrone | 9 April 1981 | Frank Maguire | Bobby Sands | Death | ||||
| Fermanagh and South Tyrone | 20 August 1981 | Bobby Sands | Owen Carron | Death from hunger strike | ||||
| Belfast South | 4 March 1982 | Robert Bradford | Martin Smyth | Killed by the IRA | ||||