Coventry South (UK Parliament constituency)

Coventry South
Borough constituency for the House of Commons
Boundary of Coventry South in West Midlands.
Location of West Midlands within England.
County	West Midlands
Electorate	75,705 (December 2010)^[1]
Current constituency
Created	1997
Member of parliament	Jim Cunningham (Labour)
Number of members	One
Created from	Coventry South East, Coventry South West
1950–1974
Number of members	One
Type of constituency	Borough constituency
Replaced by	Coventry South East, Coventry South West
Overlaps
European Parliament constituency	West Midlands

Coventry South is a constituency^{[n 1]} represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since its 1997 recreation by Jim Cunningham of the Labour Party.^{[n 2]}

History

The constituency was created for the 1950 general election, abolished for the February 1974 general election and recreated for the 1997 general election by the merger of the former seats of Coventry South East and Coventry South West. Since 1964 the various forms of the seat, excluding the gap period, have elected the Labour candidate. The Conservative candidates, since a win in 1959, have consistently taken second place.

Constituency profile and boundaries

1950-1974: The County Borough of Coventry wards of Cheylesmore, Earlsdon, Godiva, St Michael's, Westwood, and Whoberly.

1997-present: The City of Coventry wards of Binley and Willenhall, Cheylesmore, Earlsdon, St Michael's, Wainbody, and Westwood.

Coventry city centre is in the north of the constituency, with its cathedral, expanses of concrete offices and the university, which leads to a significant student vote in the seat.^[2] The residential tower blocks in St Michael's ward lie amid one of the most deprived areas in the country but south of the city centre it is more mixed, with the more middle-class areas of Cheylesmore, Earlsdon and Whoberley, Cannon Park, Gibbet Hill (aka Wainbody) and Westwood Heath among areas with large numbers of professionals, comfortably self-employed and academics.

From 1974 to 1997, the city centre was part of the now abolished Coventry South East constituency.

Members of Parliament

MPs 1950–1974

	Member^[3]	Party
1950	Elaine Burton	Labour
1959	Philip Hocking	Conservative
1964	Bill Wilson	Labour
Feb 1974	constituency abolished

MPs 1997–present

Election		Member^[3]	Party
	1997	Jim Cunningham	Labour

Elections

Elections in the 2010s

General Election 2015: Coventry South^[4]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	James Dolan Cunningham	18,472	42.3	+0.5
	Conservative	Gary Ridley	15,284	35.0	+1.5
	UKIP	Mark Taylor^[5]	5,709	13.1	+9.2
	Liberal Democrat	Greg Judge	1,779	4.1	−14.0
	Green	Benjamin Gallaher^[6]	1,719	3.9	+2.5
	TUSC	Judy Griffiths	650	1.5	N/A
	Mainstream	(James) Christopher Rooney	86	0.2	N/A
Majority			3,188	7.3	-1.1
Turnout			43,699	61.2	−1.2
	Labour hold		Swing	−0.5

The local UKIP party originally selected Mark Taylor as candidate in 2015, but he stood aside when instructed to by "party bosses."^[7] UKIP wanted to replace Taylor with "anti-gay Christian preacher"^[8] George Hargreaves.^[7] The following week, Taylor was reinstated as candidate.^[5]

General Election 2010: Coventry South^[9]^[10]^[11]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	James Dolan Cunningham	19,197	41.8	−4.0
	Conservative	Kevin Foster	15,352	33.4	+2.8
	Liberal Democrat	Brian Patton	8,278	18.0	+0.4
	UKIP	Mark Taylor	1,767	3.8	+1.8
	Socialist Alternative	Judy Griffiths	691	1.5	−1.2
	Green	Stephen Gray	639	1.4	N/A
Majority			3,845	8.4	-7.0
Turnout			45,924	62.4	+3.0
	Labour hold		Swing	−3.4

Elections in the 2000s

General Election 2005: Coventry South^[12]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	James Dolan Cunningham	18,649	45.8	−4.4
	Conservative	Heather Wheeler	12,394	30.5	+1.0
	Liberal Democrat	Vincent John McKee	7,228	17.8	+3.7
	Socialist Alternative	Robert Piers Windsor	1,097	2.7	N/A
	UKIP	William D. Brown	829	2.0	N/A
	Independent	Miss Irene Elizabeth Rogers	344	0.8	−0.6
	Families First	James C. Rooney	144	0.4	N/A
Majority			6,255	15.4
Turnout			40,685	59.1	+3.8
	Labour hold		Swing	−2.7

General Election 2001: Coventry South^[13]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	James Dolan Cunningham	20,125	50.2	−0.7
	Conservative	Heather Wheeler	11,846	29.5	+0.5
	Liberal Democrat	Vincent John McKee	5,672	14.1	+4.9
	Socialist Alliance	Robert Piers Windsor	1,475	3.7	N/A
	Independent	Miss Irene Elizabeth Rogers	564	1.4	N/A
	Socialist Labour	Timothy Peter Logan	414	1.0	N/A
Majority			8,279	20.7
Turnout			40,096	55.3	−13.4
	Labour hold		Swing

Election in the 1990s

General Election 1997: Coventry South^[14]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	James Dolan Cunningham	25,511	50.9	N/A
	Conservative	Paul C. Ivey	14,558	29.0	N/A
	Liberal Democrat	Gordon F. MacDonald	4,617	9.2	N/A
	Socialist Alternative	Dave Nellist	3,262	6.5	N/A
	Referendum	Paul J. Garratt	943	1.9	N/A
	Liberal	Roger E. Jenking	725	1.4	N/A
	BNP	Jeffrey Ashberry	328	0.7	N/A
	Rainbow Dream Ticket	Anne−Marie Bradshaw	180	0.4	N/A
Majority			10,953	21.9	N/A
Turnout			50,124	68.7	N/A
	Labour win (new seat)

Election in the 1970s

General Election 1970: Coventry South
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Bill Wilson	30,010	51.90
	Conservative	George Gardiner	27,816	48.10
Majority			2,194	3.79
Turnout				74.42
	Labour hold		Swing

Elections in the 1960s

General Election 1966: Coventry South
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Bill Wilson	31,237	54.87
	Conservative	Philip Hocking	25,697	45.13
Majority			5,540	9.73
Turnout				80.21
	Labour hold		Swing

General Election 1964: Coventry South
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Bill Wilson	29,240	51.62
	Conservative	Philip Hocking	27,407	48.38
Majority			1,833	3.24
Turnout				79.79
	Labour gain from Conservative		Swing

Elections in the 1950s

General Election 1959: Coventry South
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Philip Hocking	28,584	51.65
	Labour	Elaine Burton	26,754	48.35
Majority			1,830	3.31
Turnout				82.11
	Conservative gain from Labour		Swing

General Election 1955: Coventry South
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Elaine Burton	27,449	51.59
	Conservative	ME Williamson	25,761	48.41
Majority			1,688	3.17
Turnout				81.36
	Labour hold		Swing

General Election 1951: Coventry South
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Elaine Burton	29,271	55.15
	Conservative	John Biggs-Davison	23,803	44.85
Majority			5,468	10.30
Turnout				86.17
	Labour hold		Swing

General Election 1950: Coventry South
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Elaine Burton	27,977	52.69
	Conservative	Leslie Hore-Belisha	21,885	41.21
	Liberal	Richard John Soper	3,239	6.10
Majority			6,092	11.47
Turnout				87.25
	Labour hold		Swing

Notes and references

Notes

↑ A borough constituency (for the purposes of election expenses and type of returning officer)
↑ 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

↑ "Electorate Figures - Boundary Commission for England". 2011 Electorate Figures. Boundary Commission for England. 4 March 2011. Retrieved 13 March 2011.
↑ 2001 Census
1 2 Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "C" (part 6)
↑ "Election Data 2015". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 17 October 2015. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
1 2 http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/ukip-candidate-calls-selection-rules-review-after-partys-coventry-u-turn-1488518
↑ https://my.greenparty.org.uk/candidates/105905
1 2 http://www.coventrytelegraph.net/news/coventry-news/ukip-parachute-controversial-pop-preacher-8632711
↑ http://www.pinknews.co.uk/2015/02/14/ukip-selects-candidate-who-claims-gays-should-repent-and-turn-to-christ/
↑ "Coventry South". YourNextMP. Retrieved 6 April 2010.
↑ "Coventry South". guardian.co.uk. Guardian News and Media Limited. Retrieved 28 April 2010.
↑ "UK > England > West Midlands > Coventry South". Election 2010. BBC. 7 May 2010. Retrieved 11 May 2010.
↑ "Election Data 2005". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
↑ "Election Data 2001". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
↑ "Election Data 1997". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.

Constituencies in the West Midlands (59)

Conservative (34)	Aldridge-Brownhills Bromsgrove Burton Cannock Chase Dudley South Halesowen and Rowley Regis Hereford and South Herefordshire Kenilworth and Southam Lichfield Ludlow Meriden Mid Worcestershire North Herefordshire North Shropshire North Warwickshire Nuneaton Redditch Rugby Shrewsbury and Atcham Solihull South Staffordshire Stafford Staffordshire Moorlands Stone Stourbridge Stratford-on-Avon Sutton Coldfield Tamworth Telford The Wrekin Warwick and Leamington West Worcestershire Worcester Wyre Forest

Labour (25)	Birmingham, Edgbaston Birmingham, Erdington Birmingham, Hall Green Birmingham, Hodge Hill Birmingham, Ladywood Birmingham, Northfield Birmingham, Perry Barr Birmingham, Selly Oak Birmingham, Yardley Coventry North East Coventry North West Coventry South Dudley North Newcastle-under-Lyme Stoke-on-Trent Central Stoke-on-Trent North Stoke-on-Trent South Walsall North Walsall South Warley West Bromwich East West Bromwich West Wolverhampton North East Wolverhampton South East Wolverhampton South West

West Midlands European constituency: Conservative (2) Labour (2) UKIP (3)

Coordinates: 52°23′N 1°31′W / 52.39°N 1.51°W / 52.39; -1.51

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