Saffron Walden (UK Parliament constituency)

Saffron Walden
County constituency for the House of Commons
Boundary of Saffron Walden in Essex.
Location of Essex within England.
County	Essex
Electorate	77,109 (December 2010)[1]
Major settlements	Saffron Walden, Great Dunmow, Halstead
Current constituency
Created	1885
Member of parliament	Alan Haselhurst (Conservative)
Number of members	One
Created from	West Essex
Overlaps
European Parliament constituency	East of England

Saffron Walden is a constituency^{[n 1]} represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 1977 by Alan Haselhurst, a Conservative.^{[n 2]}

Boundaries

1918-1950: The Municipal Borough of Saffron Walden, the Urban District of Halstead, and the Rural Districts of Belchamp, Bumpstead, Dunmow, Halstead, Saffron Walden, and Stansted.

1950-1974: The Municipal Borough of Saffron Walden, the Urban District of Halstead, the Rural Districts of Dunmow, Halstead, and Saffron Walden, and in the Rural District of Braintree the civil parishes of Bardfield Saling and Great Bardfield.

1974-1983: The Municipal Borough of Saffron Walden, the Urban District of Halstead, and the Rural Districts of Dunmow, Halstead, and Saffron Walden.

1983-1997: The District of Uttlesford, and the District of Braintree wards of Bumpstead, Castle Hedingham, Colne Engaine and Greenstead Green, Earls Colne, Gosfield, Halstead St Andrews, Halstead Trinity, Sible Hedingham, Stour Valley Central, Stour Valley North, Stour Valley South, Upper Colne, and Yeldham.

1997-2010: The District of Uttlesford, and the District of Braintree wards of Bumpstead, Castle Hedingham, Colne Engaine and Greenstead Green, Halstead St Andrews, Halstead Trinity, Sible Hedingham, Stour Valley Central, Stour Valley North, Stour Valley South, Upper Colne, and Yeldham.

2010-present: The District of Uttlesford (the wards of Ashdon, Barnston and High Easter, Birchanger, Broad Oak and the Hallingburys, Clavering, Elsenham and Henham, Felsted, Great Dunmow North, Great Dunmow South, Hatfield Heath, Littlebury, Newport, Saffron Walden Audley, Saffron Walden Castle, Saffron Walden Shire, Stansted North, Stansted South, Stebbing, Stort Valley, Takeley and the Canfields, Thaxted, The Chesterfords, The Eastons, The Rodings, The Sampfords, Wenden Lofts, and Wimbish and Debden), and the Borough of Chelmsford wards of Boreham and The Leighs, Broomfield and The Walthams, Chelmsford Rural West, and Writtle.

The 2010 redistribution removed the area around Halstead in Braintree district from the constituency and replaced it with the northern wards of the Borough of Chelmsford.

History

This constituency was created on slightly different, larger boundaries under the Redistribution of Seats Act 1885. Aside from the towns much of the area is rural farmland and small villages.

This has been a Conservative safe seat based on election results since 1922, in which period the majorities have not been marginal.

Constituency profile

The constituency is by far the largest and most rural in Essex, and covers the entire north-west corner of the county - an area of almost 400 square miles (1,000 km²).^[2] It borders Hertfordshire and Cambridgeshire, whilst also extending deep into the middle of Essex near Chelmsford.

Three medium-sized market towns, Saffron Walden, Dunmow and Halstead are in the constituency. All three have historic links, and are busy and regionally visitor-drawing towns in the South East.

The largest single source of employment in the constituency is Stansted Airport, while there are also a host of small businesses, many of them high-tech along and at the ends of the London-Cambridge corridor.

In statistics

The constituency consists of Census Output Areas of two local government districts with similar characteristics, taking that forming the bulk (i.e. Uttlesford) shows: a working population whose income is close to the national average and much lower than average reliance upon social housing.^[3] At the end of 2012 the unemployment rate in the constituency stood as 1.6% of the population claiming jobseekers allowance, compared to the regional average of 2.4%.^[4] The borough contributing to the bulk of the seat has a very low 10.1% of its population without a car, 17.7% of the population without qualifications and a high 31.9% had level 4 qualifications or above. In terms of tenure 71.6% of homes are owned outright or on a mortgage as at the 2011 census across the Uttlesford district.^[5]

Members of Parliament

Saffron Walden in Essex, showing boundaries used from 1918 to 1950

Since a by-election in 1977, this safe Conservative seat has been represented by Sir Alan Haselhurst. It was also held for many years by former Chancellor of the Exchequer Rab Butler.

Election		Member[6]	Party
	1885	Herbert Gardner	Liberal
	1895	Charles Gold	Liberal
	1900	Armine Wodehouse	Liberal
	1901 by-election	Joseph Pease	Liberal
	Jan 1910	Douglas Proby	Conservative
	Dec 1910	Sir Cecil Beck	Liberal
	1922	Sir William Foot Mitchell	Conservative
	1929	Rab Butler	Conservative
	1965 by-election	Sir Peter Kirk	Conservative
	1977 by-election	Sir Alan Haselhurst	Conservative

Elections

Elections in the 2010s

General Election 2015: Saffron Walden[7]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Alan Haselhurst	32,926	57.2	+1.7
	UKIP	Peter Day[8]	7,935	13.8	+9.7
	Labour	Jane Berney	6,791	11.8	+2.1
	Liberal Democrat	Mike Hibbs	6,079	10.6	−16.9
	Green	Karmel Stannard	2,174	3.8	+2.4
	Residents for Uttlesford	Heather Asker	1,658	2.9	+2.9
Majority			24,991	43.4	+15.4
	Conservative hold		Swing	−4.0

General Election 2010: Saffron Walden[9]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Alan Haselhurst	30,155	55.4	+4.6
	Liberal Democrat	Peter Wilcock	14,913	27.4	−2.2
	Labour	Barbara Light	5,288	9.7	−4.5
	UKIP	Roger Lord	2,288	4.2	+1.5
	BNP	Chrissie Mitchell	1,050	1.9	+1.9
	Green	Reza Hossain	735	1.4	+1.4
Majority			15,242	28.0
Turnout			54,429	71.6	+2.8
	Conservative hold		Swing	+3.4

Elections in the 2000s

General Election 2005: Saffron Walden
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Alan Haselhurst	27,263	51.4	+2.5
	Liberal Democrat	Elfreda Tealby-Watson	14,255	26.9	+2.0
	Labour	Swatantra Nandanwar	8,755	16.5	−6.1
	UKIP	Raymond Tyler	1,412	2.7	−0.8
	English Democrats	Raymond Brown	860	1.6	N/A
	Veritas	Trevor Hackett	475	0.9	N/A
Majority			13,008	24.5
Turnout			53,020	68.3	+3.1
	Conservative hold		Swing	+0.3

General Election 2001: Saffron Walden
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Alan Haselhurst	24,485	48.9	+3.6
	Liberal Democrat	Mrs. Elfreda Drusilla Sarah Tealby-Watson	12,481	24.9	−1.9
	Labour	Mrs. Tania Rogers	11,305	22.6	+1.1
	UKIP	Richard Glover	1,769	3.5	+2.4
Majority			12,004	24.0
Turnout			50,040	65.2	−11.7
	Conservative hold		Swing	+2.3

Elections in the 1990s

General Election 1997: Saffron Walden
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Alan Haselhurst	25,871	45.3	-11.3
	Liberal Democrat	Melvin H. Caton	15,298	26.8	−1.8
	Labour	Malcolm J. Fincken	12,275	21.5	+7.2
	Referendum	Richard Glover	2,308	4.0	N/A
	UKIP	I.C. Evans	658	1.2	N/A
	Independent	Barry Tyler	486	0.9	N/A
	Natural Law	Christopher Edwards	154	0.3	−0.1
Majority			10,573	18.5	−13.1
Turnout			57,050	76.9	−6.3
	Conservative hold		Swing	−6.6

General Election 1992: Saffron Walden[10]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Alan Haselhurst	35,272	56.6	−1.1
	Liberal Democrat	Mark Philip Hayes	17,848	28.6	−0.3
	Labour	John Kotz	8,933	14.3	+2.8
	Natural Law	Michael D. Miller	260	0.4	N/A
Majority			17,424	28.0	−0.8
Turnout			62,313	83.2	+4.2
	Conservative hold		Swing	−0.4

Elections in the 1980s

General Election 1987: Saffron Walden
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Alan Haselhurst	33,354	57.7
	Liberal	Mark Philip Hayes	16,752	29.0
	Labour	Robert Ulric Gifford	6,674	11.5
	Green	George Bell Hannah	816	1.4
	All Party Anti-Common Market	William Oliver Smedley	217	0.4
Majority			16,602	28.72
Turnout				79.00
	Conservative hold		Swing

General Election 1983: Saffron Walden
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Alan Haselhurst	30,869	57.85
	Social Democratic	John Torode	15,620	29.27
	Labour	RP Trory	6,078	11.39
	All Party Anti-Common Market	William Oliver Smedley	797	1.49
Majority			15,249	28.58
Turnout				76.91
	Conservative hold		Swing

Elections in the 1970s

General Election 1979: Saffron Walden
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Alan Haselhurst	28,563	53.81
	Liberal	Andrew Phillips	13,200	24.87
	Labour	Ben Stoneham	10,547	19.87
	Independent	William Oliver Smedley	425	0.80
	National Front	R Bailey	342	0.64
Majority			15,363	28.94
Turnout				81.61
	Conservative hold		Swing

Saffron Walden by-election, 1977
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Alan Haselhurst	22,692	55.74	+12.03
	Liberal	Andrew Phillips	10,255	25.19	-5.13
	Labour	Ben Stoneham	5,948	14.61	-11.36
	All Party Anti-Common Market	William Oliver Smedley	1,818	4.47	N/A
Majority			12,437
Turnout			40,713
	Conservative hold		Swing

General Election October 1974: Saffron Walden
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Peter Michael Kirk	21,291	43.71
	Liberal	Frank P D Moore	14,770	30.32
	Labour	H Green	12,652	25.97
Majority			6,521	13.39
Turnout				78.07
	Conservative hold		Swing

General Election February 1974: Saffron Walden
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Peter Michael Kirk	23,013	44.58
	Liberal	Frank P D Moore	15,468	29.97
	Labour	J Dowsett	13,138	25.45
Majority			7,545	14.62
Turnout				83.40
	Conservative hold		Swing

General Election 1970: Saffron Walden
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Peter Michael Kirk	24,549	52.92
	Labour	Kenneth Thomas Weetch	14,885	32.08
	Liberal	Frank P D Moore	6,959	15.00
Majority			9,664	20.83
Turnout				77.24
	Conservative hold		Swing

Elections in the 1960s

General Election 1966: Saffron Walden Electorate 52,221
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Peter Michael Kirk	20,441	47.42
	Labour	Stephen Michael Alan Haseler	17,176	39.85
	Liberal	Frank P D Moore	5,487	12.73
Majority			3,265	7.57
Turnout				82.54
	Conservative hold		Swing

Saffron Walden by-election, 1965
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Peter Michael Kirk	18,851	48.5	-0.8
	Labour	Michael D Cornish	15,358	39.5	+2.0
	Liberal	Frank P D Moore	4,626	11.9	-1.4
Majority			3,493
Turnout
	Conservative hold		Swing

General Election 1964: Saffron Walden Electorate 50,724
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Rt Hon. Richard Austen Butler	20,610	49.3
	Labour	Michael D Cornish	15,655	37.5
	Liberal	Frank P D Moore	6,189	13.3
Majority			4,955	11.85	–
Turnout				82.41
	Conservative hold		Swing

Elections in the 1950s

General Election 1959: Saffron Walden Electorate 48,454
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Rt Hon. Richard Austen Butler	20,955	53.22
	Labour	Rev. Hampden N Horne	14,173	36.00
	Liberal	David J Ridley	4,245	10.78
Majority			6,782	17.23
Turnout				81.26
	Conservative hold		Swing

General Election 1955: Saffron Walden Electorate 47,922
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Rt Hon. Richard Austen Butler	20,671	54.21
	Labour	Rev. Hampden N Horne	14,253	37.28
	Liberal	Helen G Carson	3,209	8.42
Majority			6,418	16.83
Turnout				79.57
	Conservative hold		Swing

General Election 1951: Saffron Walden Electorate 47,836
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Rt Hon. Richard Austen Butler	20,564	51.95
	Labour	Reginald Groves	15,245	38.51
	Liberal	W Oliver Smedley	3,774	9.53
Majority			5,319	13.44
Turnout				82.75
	Conservative hold		Swing

General Election 1950: Saffron Walden Electorate 46,998
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Rt Hon. Richard Austen Butler	19,797	49.91
	Labour	Sidney Stanley Wilson	14,908	37.58
	Liberal	W Oliver Smedley	4,963	12.51
Majority			4,889	12.32
Turnout				84.40
	Conservative hold		Swing

Election in the 1940s

General Election 1945: Saffron Walden Electorate 48,417
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Rt Hon. Richard Austen Butler	16,950	46.90
	Labour	Sidney Stanley Wilson	15,792	43.70
	Liberal	George Adolphus Edinger	3,395	9.39
Majority			1,158	3.20
Turnout				74.64
	Conservative hold		Swing

Elections in the 1930s

General Election 1939/40: Another General Election was required to take place before the end of 1940. The political parties had been making preparations for an election to take place from 1939 and by the end of this year, the following candidates had been selected;

• Conservative: Richard Austin Butler
• Labour: Clara Rackham^[11]

General Election 1935: Saffron Walden Electorate
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Rt Hon. Richard Austen Butler	19,669	67.13
	Labour	Clara Rackham	9,633	32.87
Majority			10,036	34.25
Turnout				68.55
	Conservative hold		Swing

General Election 1931: Saffron Walden Electorate 41,659
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Rt Hon. Richard Austen Butler	22,501	77.67
	Labour	Sidney Stanley Wilson	6,468	22.33
Majority			16,033	55.35
Turnout				70.38
	Conservative hold		Swing

• The Liberal candidate, Arthur Musgrove Mathews withdrew at the last minute

Elections in the 1920s

General Election 1929: Saffron Walden [12]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist	Richard Austin Butler	13,561	44.5	-7.1
	Labour	William Cash	8,642	28.3	+1.7
	Liberal	Arthur Musgrove Mathews	8,307	27.2	+5.4
Majority			4,919	16.2	-8.8
Turnout				75.8	+2.7
	Unionist hold		Swing	-4.4

General Election 1924: Saffron Walden[13]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist	William Foot Mitchell	12,289	51.6
	Labour	William Cash	6,340	26.6
	Liberal	Arthur Musgrove Mathews	5,195	21.8
Majority			5,949	25.0
Turnout				73.1
	Unionist hold		Swing

General Election 1923: Saffron Walden[14]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist	William Foot Mitchell	9,652	44.3	+0.7
	Labour	William Cash	6,398	29.3	-0.8
	Liberal	Robert McNair Wilson	5,752	26.4	+13.8
Majority			3,254	15.0	+1.5
Turnout				67.7	-3.4
	Unionist hold		Swing	-0.7

General Election 1922 : Saffron Walden[15]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist	William Foot Mitchell	9,844	43.6
	Labour	William Cash	6,797	30.1
	National Liberal	W D Harbinson	3,097	13.7
	Liberal	Dr Robert McNair Wilson	2,853	12.6
Majority			3,047	13.5
Turnout				71.1
	Unionist gain from Liberal		Swing

Elections in the 1910s

Sir Cecil Beck

General Election 1918 Electorate 31,682
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Arthur Cecil Tyrrell Beck	10,628	70.1
	Labour	James Joseph Mallon	4,531	29.9
Majority			6,097	40.2
Turnout				47.8
	Liberal hold		Swing

• Beck was endorsed by the Coalition Government.

General Election December 1910 Saffron Walden[16] Electorate 9,187
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Arthur Cecil Tyrrell Beck	4,071	50.2	+1.8
	Conservative	Douglas James Proby	4,031	49.8	-1.8
Majority			40	0.4	3.6
Turnout				88.2	-2.1
	Liberal gain from Conservative		Swing	+1.8

General Election January 1910 Saffron Walden[16] Electorate 9,187
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Douglas James Proby	4,283	51.6
	Liberal	Rt Hon. Joseph Albert Pease	4,011	48.4
Majority			272	3.2
Turnout				90.3
	Conservative gain from Liberal		Swing

Elections in the 1900s

Jack Pease

General Election 1906 Saffron Walden[16] Electorate 8,779
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Joseph Albert Pease	4,203	58.9	+3.4
	Conservative	Sir Walter Balfour Barttelot	2,935	41.1	-3.4
Majority			1,268	17.8	+6.8
Turnout				81.3	-2.9
	Liberal hold		Swing	+3.4

Saffron Walden by-election, 1901[17] Electorate
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Joseph Albert Pease	3,994	55.5
	Conservative	Charles Wing Gray	3,202	44.5
Majority			792	11.0
	Liberal hold		Swing

General Election 1900 Saffron Walden[16] Electorate 8,556
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Armine Wodehouse	3,247	50.9	-2.1
	Conservative	Charles Wing Gray	3,137	49.1	+2.1
Majority			110	1.8	-4.2
Turnout				74.6
	Liberal hold		Swing

See also

• List of Parliamentary constituencies in Essex

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. Grid reference Finder measurement tools
3. 2001 Census
4. Unemployment claimants by constituency The Guardian
5. 2011 census interactive maps
6. Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "S" (part 1)
7. "Election Data 2015". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 17 October 2015. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
8. "Peter Day PPC page". UK Independence Party. Retrieved 17 January 2015.
9. "Election Data 2010". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 17 October 2015. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
10. "Politics Resources". Election 1992. Politics Resources. 9 April 1992. Retrieved 2010-12-06.
11. Report of the Annual Conference of the Labour Party, 1939
12. Craig, F. W. S. (1983). British parliamentary election results 1918-1949 (3 ed.). Chichester: Parliamentary Research Services. ISBN 0-900178-06-X.
13. Craig, F. W. S. (1983). British parliamentary election results 1918-1949 (3 ed.). Chichester: Parliamentary Research Services. ISBN 0-900178-06-X.
14. Craig, F. W. S. (1983). British parliamentary election results 1918-1949 (3 ed.). Chichester: Parliamentary Research Services. ISBN 0-900178-06-X.
15. Craig, F. W. S. (1983). British parliamentary election results 1918-1949 (3 ed.). Chichester: Parliamentary Research Services. ISBN 0-900178-06-X.
16. British parliamentary election results, 1885-1918 (Craig)
17. The Times, 3 June 1901 p7

|

Coordinates: 51°57′N 0°21′E / 51.95°N 0.35°E