Colchester North (UK Parliament constituency)

Colchester North
Former Borough constituency for the House of Commons
Colchester North in Essex
County	Essex
1983–1997
Number of members	One
Replaced by	Colchester and North Essex[1]
Created from	Colchester and Harwich[1]

Colchester North was a borough constituency in Essex, represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1983 until 1997. It elected one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first past the post system of election. It was a safe Conservative seat throughout its existence.

Boundaries

The Borough of Colchester wards of Boxted and Langham, Castle, Copford and Eight Ash Green, Dedham, Fordham, Great and Little Horkesley, Great Tey, Lexden, Marks Tay, Mile End, St Andrew's, St Anne's, St John's, St Mary's, Stanway, West Bergholt, and Wivenhoe, and the District of Tendring wards of Alresford Thorrington and Frating, Ardleigh, Brightlingsea East, Brighlingsea West, Elmstead, Great Bentley, Great Bromley Little Bromley and Little Bentley, Lawford and Manningtree, and Mistley.

The seat was created in 1983 by dividing the Colchester constituency. It took in the northern parts of Colchester, including the town centre, plus the rural areas to the north of Colchester, and south of either the Stour estuary or the Suffolk border. The seat was succeeded in 1997 by Colchester and North Essex, a seat surrounding Colchester. The present Colchester seat most closely resembles this seat's boundaries.

Members of Parliament

Election		Member[2]	Party
	1983	Sir Antony Buck	Conservative
	1992	Bernard Jenkin	Conservative
	1997	constituency abolished: see Colchester & North Essex

Elections

Elections in the 1990s

General Election 1992: Colchester North[3]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Bernard Jenkin	35,123	51.5	−0.8
	Liberal Democrat	J R Raven	18,721	27.4	−3.1
	Labour	D G Lee	13,870	20.3	+2.4
	Green	M Tariq Shabeer	372	0.5	N/A
	Natural Law	M Mears	238	0.4	N/A
Majority			16,402	24.1	+2.3
Turnout			68,324	79.1	+3.1
	Conservative hold		Swing	+1.2

Elections in the 1980s

General Election 1987: Colchester North
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Sir Antony Buck	32,747	52.3	−0.7
	Social Democratic	A Hayman	19,124	30.5	+4.3
	Labour	R A Green	10,768	17.2	−0.5
Majority			13,623	21.8	−4.8
Turnout			62,639	76.0	+2.9
	Conservative hold		Swing	−2.5

General Election 1983: Colchester North
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Antony Buck	29,921	53.0	+0.1
	Liberal	R Montgomerie	14,873	26.3	+12.2
	Labour	R C Allen	10,397	18.4	−14.9
	Independent Conservative	D Wilkinson	784	1.4	N/A
	Independent	R Davies	510	0.9	N/A
Majority			15,048	26.6
Turnout			56,485	73.08	−3.5
	Conservative win (new seat)

Changes in vote share for 1983 is based on change from 1979 result of Colchester.

See also

• List of Parliamentary constituencies in Essex

Notes and references

1. "'Colchester North', June 1983 up to May 1997". ElectionWeb Project. Cognitive Computing Limited. Retrieved 10 March 2016.
2. Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "C" (part 5)
3. "Politics Resources". Election 1992. Politics Resources. 9 April 1992. Retrieved 2010-12-06.