Boundary Review sees Ballymena move to South Antrim
The market town is the fulcrum of the DUP’s Paisley dynasty and is likely to be linked with Antrim
town after a fierce lobbying campaign designed to preserve connections between the two largely unionist centres, new recommendations from the Commission showed.
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Former DUP leader Ian Paisley Snr was MP for North Antrim, with Ballymena as its heartland, from 1970 and his son Ian Paisley Jnr has been the incumbent since 2010.
The Commission has decided to reconfigure the Mid Antrim and South Antrim constituencies and to
rename the former as East Antrim.
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Hide AdBallymena will become part of South Antrim, instead of being linked with parts of coastal Antrim.
The Commission has also recommended renaming the North Antrim constituency as Coleraine and North Antrim.
The review of constituencies was launched in March 2011 and was ordered by the coalition Government
to shrink the size of parliament.
The three member Commission in Northern Ireland is led by deputy chairman and retired deputy High Court Judge Mr Justice Richard McLaughlin.