North Swindon (UK Parliament constituency)

Coordinates: 51°33′32″N 1°46′55″W / 51.559°N 1.782°W

North Swindon
County constituency for the House of Commons
Boundary of North Swindon in Wiltshire.
Location of Wiltshire within England.
County	Wiltshire
Electorate	79,488 (December 2010)[1]
Current constituency
Created	1997
Member of parliament	Justin Tomlinson (Conservative)
Number of members	One
Created from	Swindon
Overlaps
European Parliament constituency	South West England

North Swindon is a constituency^{[n 1]} represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2010 by Justin Tomlinson, a Conservative.^{[n 2]}

History

North Swindon was created in 1997 and has been a bellwether since then.

Boundaries

1997-2010: The Borough of Swindon wards of Blunsdon, Covingham, Gorse Hill, Haydon Wick, Highworth, Moredon, St Margaret, St Philip, Western, and Whitworth, and the District of North Wiltshire ward of Cricklade.

2010-present: The Borough of Swindon wards of Abbey Meads, Blunsdon, Covingham and Nythe, Gorse Hill and Pinehurst, Haydon Wick, Highworth, Moredon, Penhill, St Margaret, St Philip, and Western.

The seat's boundaries encompass an area that before its creation made up parts of the former Swindon constituency and pre-1997 versions of North Wiltshire and Devizes. In the 2010 boundary changes Cricklade became part of the North Wiltshire constituency while this seat acquired parts of the South Swindon constituency.

Constituency profile

The constituency covers much of urban and suburban Swindon, but also incorporates a substantial portion of the surrounding area, including Blunsdon and the market town of Highworth. North Swindon has an electorate of 79,488, the majority of whom live in the suburbs or close to Swindon's town centre. In 2001 52.9% of homes were into the categories of semi-detached or detached in the Swindon Local Authority area and seeing a 5.0% increase in flats/apartments in 2011 this figure had fallen slightly to 50.3%. In North Wiltshire a higher proportion of homes are detached (35.1%). In the same period those registered unemployed rose from 2.5% to 4.2% and those self-employed rose from 6.2% to 7.8%.^[2] By contrast to Swindon South, unemployment in 2010, stood however at only 2.6% whereas in the South it stood at 3.5%. This is one indicator of social deprivation and compares to the highest seat's figure, 11.0% in Birmingham Ladywood.^[3]

Members of Parliament

Election		Member[4]	Party
	1997	Michael Wills	Labour
	2010	Justin Tomlinson	Conservative

Elections

Elections in the 2010s

General Election 2015: North Swindon[5][6]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Justin Tomlinson	26,295	50.3	+5.8
	Labour	Mark Dempsey [7]	14,509	27.8	-2.7
	UKIP	James Faulkner[8]	8,011	15.3	+11.7
	Green	Poppy Hebden-Leeder	1,723	3.3	+2.3
	Liberal Democrat	Janet Ellard[9]	1,704	3.3	-14.0
Majority			11,786	22.6
Turnout				64.5
	Conservative hold		Swing	4.3

General Election 2010: North Swindon[10][11]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Justin Tomlinson	22,408	44.6	+5.7
	Labour	Victor Agarwal	15,348	30.5	-14.6
	Liberal Democrat	Jane Lock	8,668	17.2	+4.4
	UKIP	Stephen Halden	1,842	3.7	+1.4
	BNP	Reg Bates	1,542	3.1	+3.1
	Green	Bill Hughes	487	1.0	+1.0
Majority			7,060	14.0
Turnout			50,295	64.2	+3.4
	Conservative gain from Labour		Swing	10.1%

Elections in the 2000s

General Election 2005: North Swindon
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Michael Wills	19,612	43.7	-9.2
	Conservative	Justin Tomlinson	17,041	38.0	+4.3
	Liberal Democrat	Mike Evemy	6,831	15.2	+3.6
	UKIP	Robert Tingey	998	2.2	+0.3
	Socialist Unity	Andy Newman	208	0.5	N/A
	Independent	Ernest Reynolds	195	0.4	N/A
Majority			2,571	5.7
Turnout			44,885	61.0	0.0
	Labour hold		Swing	−6.7

General Election 2001: North Swindon
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Michael Wills	22,371	52.9	+3.1
	Conservative	Nick Martin	14,266	33.7	-0.1
	Liberal Democrat	David Nation	4,891	11.6	-1.4
	UKIP	Brian Lloyd	800	1.9	N/A
Majority			8,105	19.2
Turnout			42,328	61.0	-12.6
	Labour hold		Swing

Elections in the 1990s

General Election 1997: North Swindon
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Michael Wills	24,029	49.78
	Conservative	Guy Opperman	16,341	33.85
	Liberal Democrat	M. Evemy	6,237	12.92
	Referendum	G. Goldsmith	1,533	3.18
	Natural Law	A Fisken	130	0.27%
Majority			7,688	15.93
Turnout				73.66
	Labour hold		Swing	7.1

Neighbouring constituencies

See also

• List of Parliamentary constituencies in Wiltshire

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. 2011 census interactive maps
3. Unemployment claimants by constituency The Guardian
4. Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "S" (part 6)
5. "Election Data 2015". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 17 October 2015. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
6. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/politics/constituencies/E14000851
7. http://www.northswindonlabour.co.uk/markdempsey/mark-dempsey-selected-ppc-for-north-swindon
8. http://www.ukip-swindon.org.uk/
9. http://www.libdems.org.uk/general_election_candidates#South West
10. "Election Data 2010". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 17 October 2015. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
11. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/election2010/results/constituency/d25.stm