Belfast West.
Sinn Féin MP Paul Maskey holds the seat on 52.9% of the vote.
1 Jun 2026
Sinn Féin's abstentionist policy means Paul Maskey has cast zero votes in Westminster -- one of 466 divisions -- since his election in 2011, and this is entirely by design. Sinn Féin MPs refuse to take their seats or swear allegiance to the Crown, so Maskey's blank voting record reflects party policy rather than personal disengagement. He is one of several Sinn Féin MPs returned to a parliament they do not participate in, making conventional Westminster metrics -- rebellion rates, party alignment scores, division records -- structurally inapplicable.
Beyond the abstentionist position, available data offers little to work with. No speech activity is recorded, he holds no select committee roles, and his news coverage over the past 90 days consists of three articles in which he does not appear -- coverage touching on child poverty in Belfast West, a surge in unpaid rates prosecutions in Northern Ireland, and a film production. Belfast West has the highest child poverty rate in Northern Ireland according to one of those reports, but no public response from Maskey is captured in available data.
The honest picture is that PoliticsDeck's standard parliamentary tracking tools are largely blind to how Sinn Féin MPs actually operate. Maskey's work -- if any -- is likely conducted through constituency casework, Stormont engagement, and local party structures rather than Westminster activity. Constituents seeking to assess his effectiveness would need to look beyond parliamentary records to local sources, his party's own communications, and any engagement with the Northern Ireland Assembly, none of which is captured here.
Headline indicators.
| Indicator | Local | National | Δ |
|---|
Ethnicity.
Source · Census 2021
Population by age & sexCensus 2021 · 18 bands · click to expand
Source · Census 2021 (ONS) · % of usual residents; tick marks the median seat per band
2024 — full result.
| Candidate | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Paul MaskeyWON | Ind | 21,009 | 52.9 |
| Gerry Carrol | Ind | 5,048 | 12.7 |
| Paul Doherty | Ind | 4,318 | 10.9 |
| Frank McCoubrey | DUP | 4,304 | 10.8 |
| Ann McClure | Ind | 2,010 | 5.1 |
| Eóin Millar | Ind | 1,077 | 2.7 |
| Gerard Herdman | Ind | 904 | 2.3 |
| Ben Sharkey | Ind | 461 | 1.2 |
| Ash Jones | Ind | 451 | 1.1 |
| Tony Mallon | Ind | 161 | 0.4 |
Turnout 39,743
Prior contests.
| Year | Winner | % | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | Paul Maskey | Ind | 53.8 |
| 2017 | Paul Maskey | Ind | 66.7 |
| 2015 | Paul Maskey | Ind | 54.2 |
| 2011 | Maskey, Paul | Ind | 70.6 |
| 2010 | Adams, Gerry | Ind | 71.1 |
Sources, methods & last update
2023 boundary review
DCLEAPIL v1.0 (CC BY-SA 4.0)
Census 2021
National avg over 575 seats
LSOA-aggregated · rolling 12mo