Gerry Carroll

Gerry Carroll (born 27 April 1987) is a People Before Profit politician from Belfast, Northern Ireland, who has represented the Belfast West constituency in the Northern Ireland Assembly since May 2016. From 2014 until 2016 he also represented the Black Mountain district electoral area on Belfast City Council.

Gerry Carroll MLA
Carroll in 2016
Member of Belfast City Council
In office 22 May 2014 – 7 May 2016 Serving with six others
Preceded by	Office created
Succeeded by	Matthew Collins
Constituency	Black Mountain
Member of the Northern Ireland Assembly for Belfast West
Incumbent
Assumed office 7 May 2016
Preceded by	Rosie McCorley
Personal details
Born	27 April 1987 (age 33) Belfast, Northern Ireland
Political party	People Before Profit
Alma mater	University of Ulster
Occupation	Politician

Career

When aged 16, Carroll fund-raised with fellow activists to travel to Edinburgh, Scotland for the Make Poverty History protest. He contested the 2011 Belfast West by-election—triggered by the resignation of Gerry Adams—for the People Before Profit, and won 7.6% of the vote. At the 2014 Belfast City Council election he gained one of the seven seats in the Black Mountain electoral area from Sinn Féin, coming third. Following his election, he said that he did not describe himself as a nationalist or a unionist, instead choosing to identify as a socialist. He said: "There is a lot of anger in West Belfast at the minute over the situation at Royal Victoria Hospital's A&E, the privatisation of leisure centres and the Casement Park issues...residents have been trampled on".[1] He contested Belfast West again at the 2015 general election,[2] this time coming second, gaining 19.2% of the vote and reducing the Sinn Féin majority from 57.1% to 35.0%.[3]

After being elected a councillor, Carroll criticised the large pay rises that were given to councillors whilst other council staff suffered effective pay cuts, and campaigned against privatisation and cuts.[4]

He criticised Sinn Féin's "support for capitalism", and spoke against the "sectarian nature" of politics in Northern Ireland. In August 2014 he said: "In Northern Ireland sectarianism is at the heart of the state. I don't accept that, but then again I don't accept the conservative right-wing state in the south". At the 2016 Assembly election he was elected an MLA for Belfast West, topping the poll on the first count and gaining a seat from Rosie McCorley of Sinn Féin.[5] He was re-elected at the 2017 election; however, his vote fell from 22.9% to 12.2% in the face of a 4% overall Sinn Féin vote increase that cost fellow People Before Profit MLA Eamonn McCann and the SDLP's Alex Attwood their re-election bids.[6]

Carroll's support for Brexit, in an area in which three-quarters of voters voted Remain, has attracted criticism from Sinn Féin and pro-EU activists.[7][8]

Carroll stood in the 2019 general election and came in second place behind incumbent Sinn Féin MP Paul Maskey.

Electoral history

2019 UK general election

General election 2019: Belfast West[9]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Sinn Féin	Paul Maskey	20,866	53.8	−12.9
	People Before Profit	Gerry Carroll	6,194	16.0	+5.8
	DUP	Frank McCoubrey	5,220	13.5	+0.1
	SDLP	Paul Doherty	2,985	7.7	+0.7
	Alliance	Donnamarie Higgins	1,882	4.9	+3.0
	Aontú	Monica Digney	1,635	4.2	New
Majority			14,672	37.8	−15.6
Turnout			38,782	59.1	−6.3
Registered electors			65,621
	Sinn Féin hold		Swing

2017 UK general election

General election 2017: Belfast West[10][11]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Sinn Féin	Paul Maskey	27,107	66.7	+12.5
	DUP	Frank McCoubrey	5,455	13.4	+5.6
	People Before Profit	Gerry Carroll	4,132	10.2	−9.0
	SDLP	Tim Attwood	2,860	7.0	−2.8
	Alliance	Sorcha Eastwood	731	1.9	+0.1
	Workers' Party	Conor Campbell	348	0.9	−0.8
Majority			21,652	53.4	+18.4
Turnout			40,830	65.4	+9.1
Registered electors			62,423
	Sinn Féin hold		Swing	+12.5

2017 Northern Ireland Assembly election

2017 Assembly election: Belfast West - 5 seats[12]

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4
	Sinn Féin	Órlaithí Flynn	17.1	6,918
	People Before Profit	Gerry Carroll	12.2	4,903	6,514	8,252
	Sinn Féin	Alex Maskey	15.7	6,346	6,451	7,036
	Sinn Féin	Fra McCann	15.4	6,201	6,314	6,636	7,067
	Sinn Féin	Pat Sheehan	13.5	5,466	5,515	5,739	5,903
	DUP	Frank McCoubrey	10.1	4,063	4,372	4,490	4,521
	SDLP	Alex Attwood	8.6	3,452	4,019
	People Before Profit	Matthew Collins	2.7	1,096
	Alliance	Sorcha Eastwood	1.9	747
	UUP	Fred Rogers	1.2	486
	Workers' Party	Conor Campbell	1.0	415
	Green (NI)	Ellen Murray	0.6	251
Electorate: 61,309   Valid: 40,344   Spoilt: 586 (1.43%)   Quota: 6,725   Turnout: 40,930 (66.76%)

2016 Northern Ireland Assembly election

2016 Assembly election: Belfast West - 6 seats

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8
	People Before Profit	Gerry Carroll	22.9	8,299
	Sinn Féin	Alex Maskey	13.1	4,769	5,360.80
	Sinn Féin	Pat Sheehan	9.7	3,516	3,761.08	3,829.20	6,393.20
	Sinn Féin	Fra McCann	11.1	4,028	4,283.20	4,479.48	4,756.68	5,891.73
	Sinn Féin	Jennifer McCann	12.1	4,386	4,648.68	4,755.04	4,988.88	5,044.81	5,750.11
	SDLP	Alex Attwood	7.3	2,647	3,407.76	4,161.36	4,234.52	4,242.98	4,245.38	4,299.08	4,430.20
	DUP	Frank McCoubrey	10.4	3,766	3,780.52	4,332.28	4,336.28	4,337.69	4,337.69	4,337.69	4,341.21
	Sinn Féin	Rosie McCorley	8.4	3,053	3,244.40	3,303.24
	Workers' Party	Conor Campbell	1.5	532	766.54
	Green (NI)	Ellen Murray	0.9	327	705.84
	UUP	Gareth Martin	1.8	654	668.96
	Alliance	Jemima Higgins	0.8	291	427.40
Electorate: 63,993   Valid: 36,268   Spoilt: 722 (1.95%)   Quota: 5,182   Turnout: 56.70

2015 UK general election

General election 2015: Belfast West[13][14][15][16]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Sinn Féin	Paul Maskey	19,163	54.2	−16.9
	People Before Profit	Gerry Carroll	6,798	19.2	N/A
	SDLP	Alex Attwood	3,475	9.8	−6.6
	DUP	Frank McCoubrey	2,773	7.8	+0.2
	UUP	Bill Manwaring	1,088	3.1	0.0
	UKIP	Brian Higginson	765	2.2	New
	Alliance	Gerard Catney	636	1.8	-0.1
	Workers' Party	John Lowry	597	1.7	New
	NI Conservatives	Paul Shea	34	0.1	New
Majority			12,365	35.0	-19.7
Turnout			35,329	56.3	+2.3
Registered electors			62,697
	Sinn Féin hold		Swing	−14.0

2014 Belfast City Council election

2014 Belfast City Council election - Black Mountain - 7 seats

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5	6	7
	Sinn Féin	Steven Corr*	12.86%	1,793
	Sinn Féin	Janice Austin*†	12.80%	1,784
	People Before Profit	Gerry Carroll †	12.13%	1,691	1,789
	Sinn Féin	Emma Groves*	11.68%	1,628	1,637	1,757
	Sinn Féin	Arder Carson*	10.82%	1,509	1,527	1,628	1,629.68	1,634.18	1,636.12	1,641.44
	SDLP	Tim Attwood*	9.02%	1,258	1,452	1,596	1,597.18	1,631.68	1,632.72	1,634.26
	Sinn Féin	Ciarán Beattie*	9.61%	1,340	1,369	1,472	1,501.46	1,504.46	1,534.22	1,538.14
	Sinn Féin	Caoimhín Mhic Giolla Mhin*	10.24%	1,428	1,450	1,521	1,522.30	1,526.05	1,527.19	1,529.71
	Éirígí	Pádraic MacCoitir	7.36%	1,026	1,040
	Workers' Party	Joanne Lowry	1.14%	159
	SDLP	Gerard McDonald	0.95%	133
	Alliance	Lauren Gray	0.79%	110
	NI21	Chris Valente	0.60%	83
Electorate: 25,146   Valid: 13,942 (55.44%)   Spoilt: 369   Quota: 1,743   Turnout: 14,311 (56.91%)

2011 UK by-election

2011 Belfast West by-election[17][18]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Sinn Féin	Paul Maskey	16,211	70.6	−0.5
	SDLP	Alex Attwood	3,088	13.5	−2.9
	People Before Profit	Gerry Carroll	1,751	7.6	New
	DUP	Brian Kingston	1,393	6.1	−1.5
	UUP	Bill Manwaring	386	1.7	−1.4
	Alliance	Aaron McIntyre	122	0.5	−1.4
Majority			13,123	57.1	+2.4
Turnout			22,951	37.5	−16.5
Registered electors			61,441
	Sinn Féin hold		Swing	+1.2

2011 Northern Ireland Assembly election

2011 Assembly election:[19] Belfast West - 6 seats

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11
	Sinn Féin	Paul Maskey	15.4	5,343
	Sinn Féin	Jennifer McCann	15.1	5,239
	Sinn Féin	Fra McCann	12.9	4,481	4,587.96	4,604.96	4,613.08	4,645.50	4,682.60	4,735.84	4,837.22	4,838.34	5,167.34
	SDLP	Alex Attwood	10.9	3,765	3,776.69	3,780.09	3,787.09	3,890.45	3,939.62	4,083.74	4,719.58	4,780.65	5,151.65
	Sinn Féin	Sue Ramsey	11.9	4,116	4,340.28	4,350.88	4,358.19	4,377.40	4,394.47	4,407.47	4,423.94	4,433.99	4,683.90	4,823.06
	Sinn Féin	Pat Sheehan	10.8	3,723	3,737.35	3,960.50	3,971.78	3,996.39	4,016.61	4,029.73	4,051.85	4,054.90	4,249.77	4,327.19
	DUP	Brian Kingston	7.5	2,587	2,587.28	2,587.33	2,587.33	2,600.45	2,604.45	2,607.45	2,617.57	3,834.57	3,866.57	3,866.57
	People Before Profit	Gerry Carroll	4.8	1,661	1,664.85	1,665.85	1,701.85	1,732.85	1,853.97	1,939.09	1,977.31	1,999.31
	UUP	Bill Manwaring	4.2	1,471	1,471.21	1,471.36	1,473.36	1,503.41	1,512.41	1,517.41	1,526.41
	SDLP	Colin Keenan	2.3	802	803.26	804.41	807.41	853.58	878.63	981.82
	Workers' Party	John Lowry	1.7	586	586.63	587.03	590.10	607.24	644.38
	Socialist Party	Pat Lawlor	1.1	384	384.42	384.92	399.92	408.92
	Alliance	Dan McGuinness	1.1	365	367.66	368.76	370.76
	Independent	Brian Pelan	0.4	122	122.77	122.92
Electorate: 61,520   Valid: 34,645   Spoilt: 973   Quota: 4,950   Turnout: 35,618 (57.9%)

References

1. Black, Rebecca (24 May 2014). "I am not a nationalist or a unionist, I am a socialist, says People Before Profit's new Belfast councillor Gerry Carroll". The Belfast Telegraph. Retrieved 5 October 2015.
2. Ó Muilleoir, Tiarnán (6 March 2015). "Carroll vows to take on 'austerity parties'". Belfast Media Group. Retrieved 5 October 2015.
3. "Belfast West parliamentary constituency – Election 2015". BBC News. Retrieved 5 October 2015.
4. Stewart, Alan (27 June 2015). "Politician expresses fears over Waterfront Hall 'privatisation'". Belfast Live. Retrieved 5 October 2015.
5. Little, Ivan. "West Belfast: Fairy tale win for newcomer Carroll as he snatches seat from Sinn Féin". BelfastTelegraph.co.uk. Retrieved 20 May 2016.
6. Allison Morris. "West Belfast: Only the most optimistic would have predicted such a massive swing back to Sinn Féin". The Irish News. Retrieved 4 May 2017.
7. "Carroll and McCann align themselves to Tory right wingers – Maskey | Sinn Féin". Sinnfein.ie. 18 October 2016. Retrieved 4 May 2017.
8. "People Before Profit's justification for Brexit is just nonsense". The Irish News. Retrieved 4 May 2017.
9. "Belfast West Parliamentary constituency". BBC News. BBC. Retrieved 18 November 2019.
10. "Election of a Member of Parliament for the BELFAST WEST Constituency - Statement of Persons Nominated and Notice of Poll". Electoral Office of Northern Ireland. 11 May 2017. Retrieved 16 May 2017.
11. "UK Parliamentary Election Result 2017 - Belfast West". Retrieved 11 June 2017.
12. "Statement of Persons Nominated". EONI. Retrieved 8 February 2017.
13. "Election Data 2015". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 17 October 2015. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
14. "The Electoral Office of Northern Ireland - EONI". www.eoni.org.uk.
15. "Member of Parliament for Belfast West". YourNextMP. Archived from the original on 2 April 2015. Retrieved 2 March 2015.
16. "UK ELECTION RESULTS: BELFAST WEST 2015".
17. Sinn Fein's Paul Maskey wins West Belfast by-election, BBC News, 10 June 2011
18. Northern Ireland Elections, Northern Ireland Elections, 6 May 2018
19. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 12 March 2012. Retrieved 29 April 2012.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)