North West Leicestershire (UK Parliament constituency)

North West Leicestershire
County constituency
for the House of Commons

Outline map

Boundary of North West Leicestershire in Leicestershire.

Outline map

Location of Leicestershire within England.
County Leicestershire
Electorate 72,022 (December 2010)[1]
Major settlements Coalville and Ashby-de-la-Zouch
Current constituency
Created 1983
Member of parliament Andrew Bridgen (Conservative)
Number of members One
Created from Bosworth and Loughborough
Overlaps
European Parliament constituency East Midlands

North West Leicestershire is a constituency[n 1] represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2010 by Andrew Bridgen, a Conservative.[n 2]

History

The constituency was won in 1983 by the Conservative David Ashby. He stood down in 1997 and the seat was won by Labour's David Taylor, who held the seat until he died of a heart attack in December 2009. Taylor had already announced that he would stand down at the 2010 general election. With the next election being due on 6 May 2010, it was considered uneconomic and (based on precedent) unnecessary to arrange a by-election. In the 2010 election, Andrew Bridgen took the seat for the Conservatives with a swing of 12% from Labour to the Conservatives and with a smaller Lab-LD swing. Bridgen's majority was 7,511 or 14.5% of the total votes cast.

At the 2010 election the BNP unusually succeeded in holding their deposit by winning more than 5% of the vote, and for the first time in the constituency they achieved fourth place.

Constituency profile

A marginal seat and bellwether since 1983, North West Leicestershire's main settlements are Coalville and Ashby-de-la-Zouch. The population is divided between Labour-inclined former mining areas with high rates of employment[2] and low social housing dependency,[3][n 3] and Conservative-inclined rural villages, with most people focused close to the two towns named.[4]

In 2011 Coalfield Resources plc were given permission to develop an opencast coal mining pit on the site of the former Minorca colliery on the outskirts of Measham in the seat which will be 1 mi (1.6 km) across and extract 1,250,000 tonnes (1,230,000 tons) of coal over five years, and 250,000 tonnes (about 245,000 tons) of clay. This will be one of three large mines all operated by the main UK coal-extracting company.[5]

Boundaries

North West Leicestershire constituency was created in 1983 from parts of the seats of Bosworth to the south and Loughborough to the east. It covers the same area as the North West Leicestershire district in the East Midlands.

Parliament accepted the Boundary Commission's Fifth Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies making no changes for the 2010 general election and so the area has the electoral wards:

Members of Parliament

ElectionMember[7] PartyNotes
1983 David Ashby Conservative
1997 David Taylor Labour Died December 2009
2010 Andrew Bridgen Conservative

Elections

Elections in the 2010s

General Election 2015: North West Leicestershire[8]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Andrew Bridgen 25,505 49.5 +4.9
Labour Jamie McMahon 14,132 27.4 -2.7
UKIP Andy McWilliam[9] 8,704 16.9 +14.7
Liberal Democrat Mark Argent[10] 2,033 3.9 -12.7
Green Benjamin Gravestock[11] 1,174 2.3 +2.3
Majority 11,373 22.1
Turnout 71.4
Conservative hold Swing +3.8

Previously David Parsons was announced as the UKIP candidate for 2015.[12]

General Election 2010: North West Leicestershire[13]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Andrew Bridgen 23,147 44.6 +8.6
Labour Ross Willmott 15,636 30.1 -15.4
Liberal Democrat Paul Reynolds 8,639 16.6 +4.6
BNP Ian Meller 3,396 6.5 +3.4
UKIP Martin Green 1,134 2.2 -1.1
Majority 7,511 14.5
Turnout 51,952 72.9 +6.1
Conservative gain from Labour Swing +12.0

Elections in the 2000s

General Election 2005: North West Leicestershire[14][15]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Co-op David Leslie Taylor 21,449 45.5 6.6
Conservative Nicola Le Page 16,972 36.0 +2.1
Liberal Democrat Rod Keys 5,682 12.1 +1.8
UKIP John Blunt 1,563 3.3 +1.0
BNP Clive Potter 1,474 3.1 N/A
Majority 4,477 9.5
Turnout 47,140 66.8 +1.0
Labour Co-op hold Swing 4.4
General Election 2001: North West Leicestershire[14][16]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Co-op David Leslie Taylor 23,431 52.1 -4.3
Conservative Nick Weston 15,274 33.9 +2.9
Liberal Democrat Charlie Fraser-Fleming 4,651 10.3 +1.7
UKIP William Nattrass 1,021 2.3 N/A
Independent Robert Nettleton 632 1.4 N/A
Majority 8,157 19.0
Turnout 43,219 65.8 -14.2
Labour Co-op hold Swing

Elections in the 1990s

General Election 1997: North West Leicestershire[17][16]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Co-op David Leslie Taylor 29,332 56.4
Conservative Robert Goodwill 16,113 31.0
Liberal Democrat Stan Heptinstall 4,492 8.6
Referendum M Abney-Hastings 2,008 4.0
Majority 13,219 25.4
Turnout 51,945 80.0
Labour Co-op gain from Conservative Swing
General Election 1992: Leicestershire North West[18][19]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative David Ashby 28,379 45.5 2.1
Labour David Leslie Taylor 27,400 43.9 +9.7
Liberal Democrat Jeremy WR Beckett 6,353 10.2 7.0
Natural Law DJ Fawcett 229 0.4 +0.4
Majority 979 1.6 11.8
Turnout 62,361 86.1 +3.3
Conservative hold Swing 5.9

Elections in the 1980s

General Election 1987: Leicestershire North West[20]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative David Ashby 27,872 47.63
Labour SA Waddington 20,044 34.25
Liberal DS Emmerson 10,034 17.15
Green HT Michetschlager 570 0.97
Majority 7,828 13.38
Turnout 82.85
Conservative hold Swing
General Election 1983: Leicestershire North West[21]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative David Ashby 24,760 44.58
Labour I Read 18,098 32.59
Liberal G Cort 12,043 21.68
Ecology Dinah Freer 637 1.15
Majority 6,662 12.00
Turnout 81.07
Conservative win (new seat)

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.
  3. This should be contrasted with most constituencies in County Durham, South Yorkshire and West Yorkshire which historically had a similar but more densely populated mining population and which have higher Indicators of Multiple Deprivation and are Labour safe seats based on length of service by one political party
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. 2001 Census
  4. Open Street Map
  5. "Leicestershire opencast coal mine gains approval" BBC News
  6. 2010 post-revision map non-metropolitan areas and unitary authorities of England
  7. Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "L" (part 2)
  8. "Election Data 2015". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 17 October 2015. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
  9. http://ukpollingreport.co.uk/2015guide/hampshirenorthwest/
  10. http://www.markargent4nwleics.org.uk
  11. https://my.greenparty.org.uk/candidates/106112
  12. Owen, David W (10 September 2014). "Former Conservative county council leader gives up UKIP parliamentary candidacy". Retrieved 22 January 2015.
  13. "Election Data 2010". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 17 October 2015. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
  14. 1 2 "Election Data 2001". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
  15. North West Leicestershire general election, 2005 results, North West Leicestershire District Council
  16. 1 2 Henig, Simon; Lewis Baston (2002). The Political Map of Britain. London: Politico's. p. 477. ISBN 1-84275-015-1.
  17. "Election Data 1997". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
  18. "Election Data 1992". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
  19. "Politics Resources". Election 1992. Politics Resources. 9 April 1992. Retrieved 2010-12-06.
  20. "Election Data 1987". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
  21. "Election Data 1983". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.

Coordinates: 52°45′N 1°24′W / 52.75°N 1.4°W / 52.75; -1.4

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