This seat, which has been held since 1983 by Ulster Unionist deputy leader John Taylor, forms a horseshoe shape around Strangford Lough, taking in most of the Ards peninsula. The area is a mixture of sparsely populated rural territory and relatively middle-class residential areas including many people who commute into Belfast to work.
The main town in the constituency is Newtownards, 10 miles from Belfast. Along with Comber, this is where most industry in the seat is to be found. There are also several big suburbs in the constituency just on the outskirts of Belfast: Dundonald to the east and Carrryduff to the south. For those not commuting in to work in the city, the main economic activities here are farming, fishing and tourism.
This seat has traditionally demonstrated a huge Protestant and unionist majority: only 10% or so of the population is Catholic and so the fight has tended to be between the unionist parties.