Copeland (UK Parliament constituency)

Coordinates: 54°25′52″N 3°23′20″W / 54.431°N 3.389°W

Copeland
County constituency for the House of Commons
Boundary of Copeland in Cumbria.
Location of Cumbria within England.
County	Cumbria
Electorate	63,696 (December 2010)[1]
Major settlements	Whitehaven
Current constituency
Created	1983
Member of parliament	Jamie Reed (Labour)
Number of members	One
Created from	Whitehaven
Overlaps
European Parliament constituency	North West England

Copeland is a constituency^{[n 1]} represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2005 by Jamie Reed of the Labour Party.^{[n 2]}

Boundaries

In 1983, the existing Whitehaven constituency was renamed Copeland; Jack Cunningham, who had previously been the member for Whitehaven, stood for and won the seat. Its boundaries remained unchanged, being co-terminous with the local government district of Copeland.

History of boundaries

Parliament accepted the Boundary Commission's Fifth Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies by making slight changes to this constituency for the 2010 general election, namely the addition of the wards:

• Crummock, Dalton, Derwent Valley and Keswick in the Allerdale District.

As such seat grew beyond all the district of Copeland, much of which is the Lake District to take the three wards and the small town of Keswick also in the District, with a greater electorate than the three very expansive wards combined.^[2] This saw Keswick fall in the seat for the first time, which was the main topic in public consultations regarding the changes.

Members of Parliament

Election		Member[3]	Party
	1983	Jack Cunningham	Labour
	2005	Jamie Reed	Labour

Elections

Elections in the 2010s

General Election 2015: Copeland[4]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Jamie Reed	16,750	42.3	−3.8
	Conservative	Stephen Haraldsen	14,186	35.8	−1.3
	UKIP	Michael Pye	6,148	15.5	+13.2
	Liberal Democrat	Danny Gallagher	1,368	3.5	−6.7
	Green	Allan Todd	1,179	3.0	+2.1
Majority			2,564	6.5	-2.5
Turnout			39,631	63.8	-3.8
	Labour hold		Swing

General Election 2010: Copeland[5]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Jamie Reed	19,699	46.0	−0.7
	Conservative	Chris Whiteside	15,866	37.1	+3.6
	Liberal Democrat	Frank Hollowell	4,365	10.2	−3.7
	BNP	Clive Jefferson	1,474	3.4	N/A
	UKIP	Edward Caley-Knowles	994	2.3	+0.1
	Green	Jill Perry	389	0.9	N/A
Majority			3,833	9.0
Turnout			42,787	67.6	+5.4
	Labour hold		Swing	−2.1

Elections in the 2000s

General Election 2005: Copeland
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Jamie Reed	17,033	50.5	−1.3
	Conservative	Chris Whiteside	10,713	31.7	−5.8
	Liberal Democrat	Frank Hollowell	3,880	11.5	+0.8
	UKIP	Edward Caley-Knowles	735	2.2	N/A
	Independent	Brian Earley	734	2.2	N/A
	English Democrats	Alan Mossop	662	2.0	N/A
Majority			6,320	18.7
Turnout			33,757	62.3	−2.6
	Labour hold		Swing	−2.2

General Election 2001: Copeland
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Jack Cunningham	17,991	51.8	−6.4
	Conservative	Mike Graham	13,027	37.5	+8.3
	Liberal Democrat	Mark Gayler	3,732	10.7	+1.5
Majority			4,964	14.3
Turnout			34,750	64.9	−11.4
	Labour hold		Swing

Elections in the 1990s

General Election 1997: Copeland
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Jack Cunningham	24,077	58.2	+9.5
	Conservative	Andrew Cumpsty	12,081	29.2	−14.2
	Liberal Democrat	Roger C. Putnam	3,814	9.2	+1.6
	Referendum	Chris Johnston	1,036	2.5	N/A
	ProLife Alliance	Gerard Hanratty	389	0.9	N/A
Majority			11,996	29.0
Turnout			41,397	76.3
	Labour hold		Swing	+11.9

General Election 1992: Copeland[6]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Jack Cunningham	22,328	48.7	+1.5
	Conservative	Philip G. Davies	19,889	43.4	+0.4
	Liberal Democrat	Roger C. Putnam	3,508	7.6	−1.5
	Natural Law	James R. Sinton	148	0.3	N/A
Majority			2,439	5.3	+1.1
Turnout			45,873	83.5	+2.2
	Labour hold		Swing	+0.5

Elections in the 1980s

General Election 1987: Copeland
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Jack Cunningham	20,999	47.2
	Conservative	Ashton Reginald Marson Toft	19,105	43.0
	Social Democratic	Edward Thomas Colgan	4,052	9.1
	Green	Robert Anthony Gibson	319	0.72
Majority			1,894	4.26
Turnout				81.31
	Labour hold		Swing

General Election 1983: Copeland
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Jack Cunningham	18,756	44.24
	Conservative	V. Wilson	16,919	39.91
	Social Democratic	J. Beasley	6,722	15.85
Majority			1,837	4.33
Turnout				78.20
	Labour hold		Swing

See also

• List of Parliamentary constituencies in Cumbria

Notes and references

Notes

1. A county constituency (for the purposes of election expenses and type of returning officer)
2. As with all constituencies, the constituency elects one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first past the post system of election at least every five years.

References

1. "Electorate Figures - Boundary Commission for England". 2011 Electorate Figures. Boundary Commission for England. 4 March 2011. Retrieved 13 March 2011.
2. 2010 post-revision map non-metropolitan areas and unitary authorities of England
3. Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "C" (part 5)
4. "Copeland". BBC News. Retrieved 11 May 2015.
5. Copeland, BBC News
6. "UK General Election results April 1992". Richard Kimber's Political Science Resources. Politics Resources. 9 April 1992. Retrieved 2010-12-06.