The Cotswolds (UK Parliament constituency)

The Cotswolds
County constituency for the House of Commons
Boundary of The Cotswolds in Gloucestershire for the 2010 general election.
Location of Gloucestershire within England.
County	Gloucestershire
Electorate	78,439 (December 2010)[1]
Current constituency
Created	1997
Member of parliament	Geoffrey Clifton-Brown (Conservative)
Number of members	One
Created from	Cirencester and Tewkesbury
Overlaps
European Parliament constituency	South West England

The Cotswolds is a constituency^{[n 1]} represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since its 1997 creation by Geoffrey Clifton-Brown, a Conservative.^{[n 2]}

Boundaries

1997-2010: The District of Cotswold, and the District of Stroud ward of Wotton and Kingswood.

2010-present: The District of Cotswold (the wards of Ampney-Coln, Avening, Beacon-Stow, Blockley, Bourton-on-the-Water, Campden-Vale, Chedworth, Churn Valley, Cirencester Beeches, Cirencester Chesterton, Cirencester Park, Cirencester Stratton-Whiteway, Cirencester Watermoor, Ermin, Fairford, Fosseridge, Grumbolds Ash, Hampton, Kempsford-Lechlade, Moreton-in-Marsh, Northleach, Rissingtons, Riversmeet, Sandywell, Tetbury, Thames Head, Three Rivers, and Water Park), and the District of Stroud wards of Kingswood, Minchinhampton, and Wotton-under-Edge.

The constituency was created in 1997 as Cotswold, mostly from the former seat of Cirencester and Tewkesbury. In 2010 the name was changed to The Cotswolds to reflect the local district name.

Constituency profile

The Cotswolds is a safe Conservative seat in an area of natural beauty and heritage, with its market towns constructed of rare cream-to-yellow Cotswold stone. The area is welcoming to tourists and tourism has overtaken agriculture as the largest single employer in the area.

The largest town in the constituency is Cirencester, a compact traditional town. Other settlements include Andoversford, Bourton-on-the-Water, Chipping Campden, Fairford, Lechlade, Moreton-in-Marsh, Northleach, Stow-on-the-Wold, Tetbury (and the neighbouring village of Doughton, location of Highgrove, the Prince of Wales's estate), and Wotton-under-Edge.

The seat has the highest number of listed buildings of any constituency in Britain. It also contains eight of the 20 most popular attractions in Gloucestershire, including Westonbirt Arboretum, Hidcote Manor, and Chedworth Roman Villa.

Workless claimants, registered jobseekers, were in November 2012 significantly lower than the national average of 3.8%, at 1.6% of the population based on a statistical compilation by The Guardian.^[2]

This was also the constituency, when declared during the 2015 UK General Election, saw the Conservatives gain a surprising majority that re-elected David Cameron as a hung parliament had been widely considered.

Members of Parliament

Election		Member[3]	Party
	1997	Geoffrey Clifton-Brown	Conservative	1992-1997: represented Cirencester and Tewkesbury.

Elections

Elections in the 2010s

General Election 2015: The Cotswolds[4][5]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Geoffrey Clifton-Brown	32,045	56.5	+3.5
	Liberal Democrat	Paul Hodgkinson [6]	10,568	18.6	-10.9
	UKIP	Chris Harlow	6,188	10.9	+6.7
	Labour	Manjinder Kang	5,240	9.2	-1.5
	Green	Penny Burgess	2,626	4.6	+2.9
Majority			21,477	37.9
Turnout			56,667	72.4	+0.9
	Conservative hold		Swing

General Election 2010: The Cotswolds[7][8]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Geoffrey Clifton-Brown	29,075	53.0	+3.7
	Liberal Democrat	Mike Collins	16,211	29.6	+1.5
	Labour	Mark Dempsey	5,886	10.7	−7.9
	UKIP	Adrian Blake	2,292	4.2	+1.0
	Green	Kevin Lister	940	1.7	N/A
	Independent	Alex Steel	428	0.8	N/A
Majority			12,864	23.5	+2.2
Turnout			54,832	71.5	+4.2
	Conservative hold		Swing	+1.1

Elections in the 2000s

General Election 2005: Cotswold[9]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Geoffrey Clifton-Brown	23,326	49.3	-1.0
	Liberal Democrat	Philip Beckerlegge	13,638	28.8	+4.6
	Labour	Mark Dempsey	8,457	17.9	−4.7
	UKIP	Richard Buckley	1,538	3.2	+0.3
	Independent	James Derieg	392	0.8	N/A
Majority			9,688	20.5
Turnout			47,351	66.7	−0.8
	Conservative hold		Swing	−2.8

General Election 2001: Cotswold[10]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Geoffrey Clifton-Brown	23,133	50.3	+4.0
	Liberal Democrat	Angela Lawrence	11,150	24.2	+1.3
	Labour	Richard Wilkins	10,383	22.6	-0.1
	UKIP	Jill Stopps	1,315	2.9	N/A
Majority			11,983	26.1
Turnout			45,981	67.5	-8.2
	Conservative hold		Swing

Elections in the 1990s

General Election 1997: Cotswold[11]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Geoffrey Clifton-Brown	23,698	46.4	N/A
	Liberal Democrat	David Gayler	11,733	22.9	N/A
	Labour	David Elwell	11,608	22.7	N/A
	Referendum	Rupert Lowe	3,393	6.6	N/A
	Green	V. Michael	560	1.1	N/A
	Natural Law	H. Brighouse	129	0.3	N/A
Majority			11,965		N/A
Turnout				75.9	N/A
	Conservative hold		Swing	N/A

See also

• List of Parliamentary constituencies in Gloucestershire

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. Unemployment claimants by constituency The Guardian
3. Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "C" (part 6)
4. "Election Data 2015". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 17 October 2015. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
5. http://www.cotswold.gov.uk/media/1178863/Declaration-of-result-PARLIAMENTARY-ELECTION-2015.pdf 19 June 2015
6. http://electionresults.blogspot.co.uk/2013/04/cotswolds-2015.html
7. "Election Data 2010". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 17 October 2015. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
8. BBC - Election 2010 - Cotswolds, The
9. "Election Data 2005". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
10. "Election Data 2001". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
11. "Election Data 1997". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.