North Somerset (UK Parliament constituency)

North Somerset
County constituency
for the House of Commons

North Somerset in Somerset

Outline map

Location of Somerset within England.
County Somerset
Electorate 78,223 (December 2010)[1]
Major settlements Clevedon, Nailsea and Portishead
Current constituency
Created 2010
Member of parliament Liam Fox (Conservative)
Number of members One
Created from Woodspring
19501983
Replaced by Woodspring, Wansdyke and Wells[2]
Created from Frome
18851918
Overlaps
European Parliament constituency South West England

North Somerset is a constituency[n 1] represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2010 by Liam Fox, a Conservative.[n 2]

History

Earlier versions of the seat existed between 1885–1918 and 1950–1983.

First creation

Parliament passed the Redistribution of Seats Act 1885 creating the larger constituency of North Somerset from the 1885 general election, which was later abolished for the 1918 general election.

Second creation

North Somerset was re-established for the 1950 general election, and abolished again for the 1983 general election.

The seat is currently represented by Liam Fox, former Secretary of State for Defence.

Third creation

Following the review of parliamentary representation in the North Somerset district by the Boundary Commission for England, the former Woodspring constituency has been renamed as North Somerset without substantial boundary changes from its predecessor.[3]

Boundaries

1885-1918: The Sessional Divisions of Keynsham, Long Ashton, and Temple Cloud, and the civil parishes of Binegar, Chilcompton, and Midsomer Norton.

1950-1974: The Urban Districts of Keynsham, Norton Radstock, and Portishead, the Rural Districts of Bathavon (the civil parishes of Bathampton, Batheaston, Bathford, Camerton, Charlcombe, Claverton, Combe Hay, Compton Dando, Corston, Dunkerton, English Combe, Freshford, Hinton Charterhouse, Kelston, Marksbury, Monkton Combe, Newton St Loe, North Stoke, Priston, South Stoke, St Catherine, Swainswick, Wellow, Weston, and Whitchurch) and Clutton (the civil parishes of Cameley, Chelwood, Chew Magna, Chew Stoke, Chilcompton, Clutton, Compton Martin, East Harptree, Farmborough, Farrington Gurney, High Littleton, Hinton Blewett, Litton, Nempnett Thrubwell, Norton Malreward, Paulton, Publow, Stanton Drew, Ston Easton, Stowey, St Thomas in Pensford, Timsbury, Ubley, and West Harptree), and in the Rural District of Long Ashton the civil parishes of Abbots Leigh, Backwell, Barrow Gurney, Bishopsworth, Brockley, Clapton-in-Gordano, Dundry, Easton-in-Gordano, Flax Bourton, Long Ashton, Nailsea, North Weston, Portbury, Tickenham, Walton-in-Gordano, Weston-in-Gordano, Winford, and Wraxall.

1974-1983: The Urban Districts of Keynsham, Norton Radstock, and Portishead, the Rural Districts of Bathavon (the civil parishes of Bathampton, Batheaston, Bathford, Camerton, Charlcombe, Claverton, Combe Hay, Compton Dando, Corston, Dunkerton, English Combe, Freshford, Hinton Charterhouse, Kelston, Marksbury, Monkton Combe, Newton St Loe, North Stoke, Peasedown St John, Priston, Shoscombe, South Stoke, St Catherine, Swainswick, Wellow, Weston, and Whitchurch) and Clutton, and in the Rural District of Long Ashton the civil parishes of Abbots Leigh, Backwell, Barrow Gurney, Brockley, Clapton-in-Gordano, Dundry, Easton-in-Gordano, Flax Bourton, Long Ashton, Nailsea, North Weston, Portbury, Tickenham, Walton-in-Gordano, Weston-in-Gordano, Winford, and Wraxall.

2010-present: The District of North Somerset wards of Backwell, Clevedon Central, Clevedon East, Clevedon North, Clevedon South, Clevedon Walton, Clevedon West, Clevedon Yeo, Easton-in-Gordano, Gordano, Nailsea East, Nailsea North and West, Pill, Portishead Central, Portishead Coast, Portishead East, Portishead Redcliffe Bay, Portishead South and North Weston, Portishead West, Winford, Wraxall and Long Ashton, Wrington, and Yatton.

Constituency profile

This is essentially the old Woodspring seat with a new name. A coastal strip between the Severn Estuary and the M5 motorway includes the towns of Clevedon and Portishead, while inland from the motorway is the town of Nailsea and a predominantly rural area dotted with villages. This is a fairly affluent constituency with average incomes and low proportion of unemployment claimants[4] — about a third of the population commute to work, mostly in Bristol and Bath.[5] The old seat returned Conservative MPs; Fox won the new constituency by nearly 15 percentage points over the Liberal Democrats in 2010.

Members of Parliament

MPs 1885–1918

Election Member Party
1885 Evan Henry Llewellyn Conservative
1892 Courtenay Warner Liberal
1895 Evan Henry Llewellyn Conservative
1906 William Henry Bateman Hope Liberal
January 1910 Joseph King Liberal
1918 constituency abolished

MPs 1950–1983

ElectionMember Party
1950 constituency recreated
1950 Sir Ted Leather Conservative
1964 Paul Dean Conservative
1983 constituency abolished: see Woodspring

MPs since 2010

ElectionMember[6] Party
2010 Liam Fox Conservative

Elections

Elections in the 2010s

General Election 2015: North Somerset[7]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Liam Fox 31,540 53.5 +4.2
Labour Greg Chambers 8,441 14.3 +3.2
UKIP Ian Kealey[8] 7,669 13.0 +9.1
Liberal Democrat Marcus Kravis 7,486 12.7 -23.0
Green David Derbyshire 3,806 6.5 +6.5
Majority 23,099 39.2 +25.6
Turnout 58,942 73.6 -1.4
Conservative hold Swing +0.5
General Election 2010: North Somerset[9][10]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Liam Fox 28,549 49.3 +7.5
Liberal Democrat Brian Mathew 20,687 35.7 +5.5
Labour Steve Parry-Hearn 6,448 11.1 -10.6
UKIP Sue Taylor 2,257 3.9 +1.4
Majority 7,862 13.6
Turnout 57,941 75.0 +3.2
Conservative hold Swing +1.0

Elections in the 1970s

General Election 1979: North Somerset
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Arthur Paul Dean 43,173 54.34
Labour AJ Smith 22,122 27.84
Liberal D Sanders 12,898 16.23
Ecology R Carder 1,254 1.58
Majority 21,051 26.50
Turnout 82.24
Conservative hold Swing
General Election October 1974: North Somerset
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Arthur Paul Dean 32,146 44.88
Labour HR White 22,671 31.65
Liberal JM Bourne 16,428 22.93
United Democratic JK Polling 387 0.54
Majority 9,475 13.23
Turnout 80.43
Conservative hold Swing
General Election February 1974: North Somerset
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Arthur Paul Dean 34,576 46.09
Labour HR White 22,421 29.89
Liberal JM Bourne 18,023 24.02
Majority 12,155 16.20
Turnout 85.06
Conservative hold Swing
General Election 1970

Electorate 84,866

Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Arthur Paul Dean 38,975 58.1
Labour John T Mitchard 28,121 41.9
Majority 10,854 16.2
Turnout 67,096 79.1
Conservative hold Swing

Elections in the 1960s

General Election 1966

Electorate 72,803

Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Arthur Paul Dean 28,824 46.4
Labour Brian Tilley 26,526 42.7
Liberal Mark E Willies 6,745 10.9
Majority 2,298 3.7
Turnout 62,095 85.3
Conservative hold Swing
General Election 1964

Electorate 70,186

Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Arthur Paul Dean 27,814 46.4
Labour DT White 23,896 39.8
Liberal Mark E Willies 8,253 13.8
Majority 3,918 6.5
Turnout 59,963 85.4
Conservative hold Swing

Elections in the 1950s

General Election 1959: Somerset North

Electorate 63,231

Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Edwin Hartley Cameron Leather 30,432 56.3
Labour E Fraser Wilde 23,649 43.7
Majority 6,783 12.5
Turnout 54,081 85.5
Conservative hold Swing
General Election 1955: Somerset North

Electorate 58,282

Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Edwin Hartley Cameron Leather 26,985 54.2
Labour David R Llewellyn 22,802 45.8
Majority 4,183 8.4
Turnout 54,081 85.4
Conservative hold Swing
General Election 1951: Somerset North

Electorate 59,167

Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Edwin Hartley Cameron Leather 27,465 52.4
Labour Robert J Hurst 24,917 47.6
Majority 2,548 4.9
Turnout 88.5
Conservative hold Swing
General Election 1950: Somerset North

Electorate 59,919

Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Edwin Hartley Cameron Leather 23,953 45.6
Labour Xenia Field 23,050 43.8
Liberal Albert Ernest Whitcher 5,573 10.6
Majority 903 1.7
Turnout 87.7
Conservative hold Swing

See also

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. "'Somerset North', Feb 1974 - May 1983". ElectionWeb Project. Cognitive Computing Limited. Retrieved 24 March 2016.
  3. "FINAL RECOMMENDATIONS FOR PARLIAMENTARY CONSTITUENCIES IN THE UNITARY AUTHORITY OF NORTH SOMERSET". Boundary Commission for England. 8 November 2000. Retrieved 11 November 2010.
  4. Unemployment claimants by constituency The Guardian
  5. 2001 Census
  6. "Somerset North". Guardian. Retrieved 5 October 2012.
  7. "Election Data 2015". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 17 October 2015. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
  8. http://ukpollingreport.co.uk/2015guide/somersetnorth/
  9. "Election Data 2010". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 17 October 2015. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
  10. "Somerset North". BBC News (BBC). 7 May 2010. Retrieved 7 May 2010.
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