of 15 wards of Belfast City Council prior to 1973. Its boundaries were the Antrim Road, Clifton Street, North Queen St, Great George's Street and Brougham Street. From 1973 to 1985 the eastern boundary of the New Lodge ward was North Queen Street. The boundaries were extended to York Street and Clifton Park Avenue in 1985. In 1993 the Antrim Road boundary was restored with the Unity flats area added. These boundaries are used for census information. The Dock Ward of Belfast City Council mainly returned Unionists with slim majorities in the pre-War years, with Nationalists winning from the 1940s and becoming more dominant as time moved on. In the post-War years, the New Lodge was historically the political stronghold of Gerry Fitt. The co-terminous Stormont parliamentary constituency was the most marginal constituency, changing hands at every election until 1965. It was won by the Ulster Unionist Party in 1929, Northern Ireland Labour Party in 1933, Unionists in 1938, NILP in 1945, Unionists in 1949, Irish Labour in 1953, Unionists in 1958, Irish Labour (Gerry Fitt) in 1962, and Republican Labour (Fitt again) in 1965 and 1969. The Westminster parliamentary constituency was part of East Belfast until the 1974 elections and has formed part of North Belfast since then (although the areas east of North Queen Street were in West Belfast from 1983 to 1997). Politically, Sinn Féin now dominate the area although previously parts of the area were, along with the Lower Falls, one of the strongest areas for Official Republicanism in Belfast – especially the areas around the Carlisle estate and Henry Street. Seamus Lynch was elected for the Republican Clubs and their successor parties between 1977 and 1993 and a social club for supporters of the Workers Party and Official IRA survived until the late 80s. Social conditions While the housing stock is now largely of a high standard, and the Belfast economy has improved dramatically from the nadir of the 1980s, the New Lodge remains an area of considerable social deprivation. The Northern Ireland Index of Multiple Deprivation lists the New Lodge as the fifth most deprived of 581 wards in Northern Ireland, and the second most deprived in terms of income. The high score comes in spite of it being the least deprived of the 581 in terms of access to services, lying on the edge of the city centre and with major health and