Southampton Test (UK Parliament constituency)

Southampton Test
Borough constituency for the House of Commons
Boundary of Southampton Test in Hampshire.
Location of Hampshire within England.
County	Hampshire
Electorate	71,263 (December 2010)[1]
Major settlements	Southampton
Current constituency
Created	1950
Member of parliament	Alan Whitehead (Labour)
Number of members	One
Created from	Southampton
Overlaps
European Parliament constituency	South East England

Southampton Test is a constituency^{[n 1]} represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 1997 by Alan Whitehead, a member of the Labour Party.^{[n 2]}

History

The constituency was created for the 1950 general election, when the previous two-member Southampton constituency was abolished. Although the name of the seat has been retained since 1950, the precise boundaries of the seat have changed during that time.

Horace King, after being the member in the first half of the 1950s, would later become the first Speaker of the House of Commons from the Labour Party.

Southampton Test proved to be a bellwether (mirroring the national result) from 1966 until 2010, with the exception of the minority government of Harold Wilson from February to October 1974 (see Second Wilson Ministry).

Whitehead for Labour performed better here than John Denham in Southampton Itchen, the other Southampton seat, which the party also held in the 2010 general election. The area is, from 2010, one of only four Labour seats left in South East England.^[2]

Constituency profile

The seat covers the western part of the City of Southampton and is named after the River Test, one of the city's two rivers. It covers some of the leafy northern suburbs (though the northernmost Bassett Ward ceased to form part of the constituency in 1997) and the western port areas as well as the social housing estates of the western fringes. It is traditionally the marginally more affluent of the two constituencies in the city, before 2010 having a higher number of Tory representatives than its neighbour Southampton Itchen — named after the other major river. The area includes the University of Southampton, though its halls of residence fall almost entirely within Romsey and Southampton North or Southampton Itchen. Workless claimants, registered jobseekers, were in November 2012 close to but slightly below than the national average of 3.8%, at 3.4% of the population based on a statistical compilation by The Guardian, above the average for the South East seats of 2.5% but below, for example, five seats in East Kent.^[3]

The seat is home to Southampton FC's football ground at St Mary's.

Boundaries

1950-1955: The County Borough of Southampton wards of All Saints, Banister, Freemantle, Millbrook, St Nicholas, Shirley, and Town, and the civil parish of Millbrook in the Rural District of Romsey and Stockbridge.

1955-1983: The County Borough of Southampton wards of Banister, Bargate, Bassett, Coxford, Freemantle, Millbrook, Portswood, Redbridge, and Shirley.

1983-1997: The City of Southampton wards of Bassett, Coxford, Freemantle, Millbrook, Portswood, Redbridge, and Shirley.

1997-2010: The City of Southampton wards of Coxford, Freemantle, Millbrook, Portswood, Redbridge, St Deny's, and Shirley.

2010-present: The City of Southampton wards of Bevois, Coxford, Freemantle, Millbrook, Portswood, Redbridge, and Shirley.

The constituency is bounded to the east by Southampton Itchen, to the north by Romsey and Southampton North and to the west by New Forest East.

Members of Parliament

Election		Member[4]	Party	Notes
	1950	Horace King	Labour	Speaker of the House of Commons from 1965 to 1971
	1955	John Howard	Conservative
	1964	John Fletcher-Cooke	Conservative
	1966	Bob Mitchell	Labour
	1970	James Hill	Conservative
	Oct 1974	Bryan Gould	Labour	Member of the Shadow Cabinet from 1986 to 1994
	1979	James Hill	Conservative
	1997	Alan Whitehead	Labour

Elections

Elections in the 2010s

General Election 2015: Southampton Test[5][6]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Alan Whitehead	18,017	41.3	+2.8
	Conservative	Jeremy Moulton	14,207	32.5	-0.5
	UKIP	Pearline Hingston[7]	5,566	12.8	+8.8
	Green	Angela Mawle	2,568	5.9	+3.9
	Liberal Democrat	Adrian Ford	2,121	4.9	-17.5
	Independent	Chris Davis[8]	770	1.8	N/A
	TUSC	Nick Chaffey	403	0.9	+0.9
Majority			3,810	8.7	+3.2
Turnout			43,652	62.1	+0.7
	Labour hold		Swing	+1.7

General Election 2010: Southampton Test[9][10]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Alan Whitehead	17,001	38.5	-5.7
	Conservative	Jeremy Moulton	14,588	33.0	+8.0
	Liberal Democrat	Dave Callaghan	9,865	22.3	-1.8
	UKIP	Pearline Hingston	1,726	3.9	+0.9
	Green	Chris Bluemel	881	2.0	-1.6
Majority			2,413	5.5	-11.3
Turnout			44,187	61.4	+5.4
	Labour hold		Swing	−6.9

Elections in the 2000s

General Election 2005: Southampton Test[11]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Alan Whitehead	17,845	42.7	−9.8
	Conservative	Stephen MacLoughlin	10,827	25.9	+0.4
	Liberal Democrat	Steve Sollitt	10,368	24.8	+6.7
	Green	John Spottiswoode	1,482	3.5	N/A
	UKIP	Peter Day	1,261	3.0	+1.1
Majority			7,018	16.8
Turnout			41,783	53.7	−2.6
	Labour hold		Swing	−5.1

General Election 2001: Southampton Test[12]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Alan Whitehead	21,824	52.5	-1.7
	Conservative	Richard Gueterbock	10,617	25.5	-2.5
	Liberal Democrat	John Shaw	7,522	18.1	+4.4
	UKIP	Garry Rankin-Moore	792	1.9	+1.5
	Socialist Alliance	Mark Abel	442	1.1	N/A
	Socialist Labour	Paramjit Bahia	378	0.9	N/A
Majority			11,207	27.0
Turnout			41,575	56.3	-15.4
	Labour hold		Swing

Elections in the 1990s

General Election 1997: Southampton Test[13]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Alan Whitehead	28,396	54.1	+11.7
	Conservative	James Hill	14,712	28.1	−15.3
	Liberal Democrat	Alan Dowden	7,171	13.7	+0.6
	Referendum	Peter Day	1,397	2.7
	Legalise Cannabis	Howard Marks	388	0.7
	UKIP	A.M. McCabe	219	0.4	N/A
	Independent	P Taylor	81	0.2	N/A
	Natural Law	J Sinel	77	0.1	N/A
Majority			13,684
Turnout				71.9
	Labour gain from Conservative		Swing

General Election 1992: Southampton Test[14][15][16]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	James Hill	24,504	43.4	−2.2
	Labour	Alan Whitehead	23,919	42.4	+9.1
	Liberal Democrat	Diana Maddock	7,391	13.1	−8.1
	Green	Jonathan M. Michaelis	535	0.9	+0.9
	Natural Law	David Plummer	101	0.2	+0.2
Majority			585	1.0	−11.3
Turnout			56,450	77.4	+1.0
	Conservative hold		Swing	−5.6

Elections in the 1980s

General Election 1987: Southampton Test[17]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	James Hill	25,722	45.6	+0.4
	Labour	Alan Whitehead	18,768	33.3	+5.2
	Liberal	V. Rayner	11,950	21.2	-5.5
Majority			6,954	12.3	-4.8
Turnout				76.4	+3.3
	Conservative hold		Swing	-2.4

General Election 1983: Southampton Test[18]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	James Hill	24,657	45.19
	Labour	Alan Whitehead	15,311	28.06
	Social Democratic	A. Vinson	14,592	26.74
Majority			9,346	17.13
Turnout				73.07
	Conservative hold		Swing

Elections in the 1970s

General Election 1979: Southampton Test
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	James Hill	27,198	46.36
	Labour	Bryan Gould	25,075	42.74
	Liberal	D. Hughes	6,393	10.90
Majority			2,123	3.62
Turnout				76.30
	Conservative gain from Labour		Swing

General Election October 1974: Southampton Test
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Bryan Gould	22,780	42.17
	Conservative	James Hill	22,250	41.109
	Liberal	J.R. Wallis	8,994	16.65
Majority			530	0.98
Turnout				73.11
	Labour gain from Conservative		Swing

General Election February 1974: Southampton Test
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	James Hill	23,742	40.88
	Labour	Bryan Gould	22,339	38.46
	Liberal	J.R. Wallis	12,000	20.66
Majority			1,403	2.42
Turnout				79.21
	Conservative hold		Swing

General Election 1970: Southampton Test
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	James Hill	24,660	47.54
	Labour	Bob Mitchell	22,858	44.07
	Liberal	J.R. Wallis	4,349	8.38
Majority			1,802	3.47
Turnout				73.33
	Conservative gain from Labour		Swing

Elections in the 1960s

General Election 1966: Southampton Test
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Bob Mitchell	24,628	48.37
	Conservative	John Fletcher-Cooke	22,188	43.58
	Liberal	G.A.W. Cleverley	4,102	8.06
Majority			2,440	4.79
Turnout				78.13
	Labour gain from Conservative		Swing

General Election 1964: Southampton Test
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	John Fletcher-Cooke	25,700	50.34
	Labour	Bob Mitchell	25,352	49.66
Majority			348	0.68
Turnout				76.69
	Conservative hold		Swing

Elections in the 1950s

General Election 1959: Southampton Test
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	John Howard	30,176	56.31
	Labour	S.V.T.B. Williams	23,410	43.69
Majority			6,766	12.63
Turnout				79.88
	Conservative hold		Swing

General Election 1955: Southampton Test
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	John Howard	26,707	51.21
	Labour	C.A.R. Crosland	22,865	43.84
	Liberal	Stanley Little	2,583	4.95
Majority			3,842	7.37
Turnout				78.72
	Conservative gain from Labour		Swing

General Election 1951: Southampton Test
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Horace King	26,430	50.44
	Liberal National	J.A. Paul	25,965	49.56
Majority			465	0.89
Turnout				83.52
	Labour hold		Swing

General Election 1950: Southampton Test
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Horace King	25,052	47.08
	Liberal National	P. Brembridge	23,663	45.15
	Liberal	Stephen Fry	3,697	7.05
Majority			1,389	2.65
Turnout				84.39
	Labour hold		Swing

See also

• List of Parliamentary constituencies in Hampshire

Notes and references

Notes

1. A borough 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. BBC News http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/shared/election2010/results/region/8.stm. Missing or empty |title= (help)
3. Unemployment claimants by constituency The Guardian
4. Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "T" (part 1)
5. "Election Data 2015". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 17 October 2015. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
6. "BBC NEWS – Election 2015 – Southampton Test". BBC News.
7. http://ukpollingreport.co.uk/2015guide/southamptontest/
8. "Southampton anti poverty campaigner stands for Parliament". Southern Daily Echo. 29 September 2014. Retrieved 14 February 2015.
9. "Election Data 2010". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 17 October 2015. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
10. "BBC NEWS – Election 2010 – Southampton Test". BBC News.
11. "Election Data 2005". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
12. "Election Data 2001". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
13. "Election Data 1997". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
14. "Election Data 1992". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
15. "Politics Resources". Election 1992. Politics Resources. 9 April 1992. Retrieved 6 December 2010.
16. This was an unusual election, where an incumbent was challenged by two people who later became MPs.
17. "Election Data 1987". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
18. "Election Data 1983". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.

Coordinates: 50°56′N 1°25′W / 50.933°N 1.417°W