Surrey Heath (UK Parliament constituency)

Surrey Heath
County constituency
for the House of Commons

Outline map

Boundary of Surrey Heath in Surrey.

Outline map

Location of Surrey within England.
County Surrey
Electorate 78,453 (December 2010)
Current constituency
Created 1997
Member of parliament Michael Gove (Conservative Party)
Overlaps
European Parliament constituency South East England

Surrey Heath is a constituency[n 1] represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2005 by Michael Gove, a Conservative.[n 2]

Boundaries

Surrey Heath occupies the northwest corner of the county. It has electoral wards:

The largest town[n 3] is Camberley. The Boundary Commission made no boundary changes for Surrey Heath in the Fifth Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies before the 2010 general election.

The large village of Ash with Ash Vale and smaller one of Tongham are contiguous, similar to Frimley and Frimley Green.

History

The constituency was created in 1997 from the most part of the seat of North West Surrey (which was abolished) and smaller parts of Woking and Guildford, seats which remain.

On the seat's creation, Nick Hawkins was elected to Parliament following the retirement of Surrey North West MP Michael Grylls who in 1992 achieved a majority of 28,392.[1] One of Hawkins' opponents for selection was future Speaker, John Bercow. Bercow was selected as the Conservative candidate for the Buckingham constituency on the same day.[2]
In 2004 the Conservative constituency association, then the richest in the country, deselected their MP Nick Hawkins in the hope of obtaining an MP of Cabinet calibre.[3]

Prominent members

Present Member since 2005, Michael Gove is currently the Secretary of State for Justice and is able to attend Cabinet meetings.[4]

Constituency profile

In terms of housing 70% of homes are detached or semi-detached at the 2011 census. The detached percentage (45.2%) was at that time the second highest in the South East, behind the New Forest.[5] The area is well connected to London Heathrow Airport, IT, telecommunications and logistics centres of the M3 and M4 'corridors' and to the military towns of Aldershot and Sandhurst. Farnborough with its civil, private aviation base with certain military uses is also nearby, as is Blackbushe Airport.

Workless claimants, registered jobseekers, were in November 2012 significantly lower than the national average of 3.8%, at 1.7% of the population based on a statistical compilation by The Guardian.[6]

The constituency is one of the Conservative party's safest seats, with most wards firmly in their camp, the exception being the Old Dean ward which usually votes Labour at local level. According to the British Election Study, it is the most right-wing seat in the UK.[7]

Members of Parliament

ElectionMember[8] Party
1997 Nick Hawkins Conservative
2005 Michael Gove Conservative

Elections

Elections in the 2010s

General Election 2015: Surrey Heath[9]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Michael Gove 32,582 59.9 +2.2
UKIP Paul Chapman[10] 7,778 14.3 +8.0
Labour Laween Atroshi 6,100 11.2 +1.0
Liberal Democrat Ann-Marie Barker 4,937 9.1 −16.8
Green Kimberley Lawson[11] 2,400 4.4 N/A
Christian Juliana Brimicombe 361 0.7 N/A
Independent Bob and Roberta Smith[12] 273 0.5 N/A
Majority 24,804 45.6 +13.8
Turnout 54,431 68.5 −1.5
Conservative hold Swing
General Election 2010: Surrey Heath[13]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Michael Gove 31,326 57.6 +6.1
Liberal Democrat Alan Hilliar 14,037 25.8 −3.0
Labour Matt Willey 5,552 10.2 −6.5
UKIP Mark Stroud 3,432 6.3 +3.3
Majority 17,289 31.8 +9.1
Turnout 54,347 70.0 +7.1
Conservative hold Swing +4.5

Elections in the 2000s

General Election 2005: Surrey Heath[14]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Michael Gove 24,642 51.5 +1.8
Liberal Democrat Rosalyn Harper 13,797 28.8 +3.1
Labour Chris Lowe 7,989 16.7 −4.7
UKIP Steve Smith 1,430 3.0 −0.3
Majority 10,845 22.7
Turnout 47,858 62.9 +3.4
Conservative hold Swing −0.7
General Election 2001: Surrey Heath[15]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Nick Hawkins 22,401 49.7 −1.9
Liberal Democrat Mark Lelliott 11,582 25.7 +3.9
Labour James Norman 9,640 21.4 +0.3
UKIP Nigel Hunt 1,479 3.3 +2.1
Majority 10,819 24.0
Turnout 45,102 59.5 −14.7
Conservative hold Swing

Elections in the 1990s

General Election 1997: Surrey Heath[16]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Nick Hawkins 28,231 51.6 N/A
Liberal Democrat David Newman 11,944 21.8 N/A
Labour Susan Jones 11,511 21.0 N/A
Referendum John Gale 2,385 4.4 N/A
UKIP R.P.F. Squire 653 1.2 N/A
Majority 16,287 29.8 N/A
Turnout 54,724 74.1 N/A
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. ↑ occupying the seven wards without individual settlement articles
References
  1. ↑ http://www.parliament.uk/documents/commons-information-office/m13.pdf
  2. ↑ BBC News: The John Bercow story
  3. ↑ Melissa Kite (27 Jun 2004). "Surrey Heath members believe that their money ought to be able to buy a future prime minister". Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 13 August 2012.
  4. ↑ "Michael Gove moves to justice in post-election reshuffle". BBC news:Politics. 10 May 2015. Retrieved 10 May 2015.
  5. ↑ 2011 census interactive maps
  6. ↑ Unemployment claimants by constituency The Guardian
  7. ↑ http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-30129990
  8. ↑ Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "S" (part 6)
  9. ↑ "Election Data 2015". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 17 October 2015. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
  10. ↑ http://surreyheathukip.org.uk/elections
  11. ↑ "Kimberley Lawson PPC page". Green Party of England and Wales. Retrieved 1 March 2015.
  12. ↑ Clark, Nick (3 December 2014). "Bob and Roberta Smith will run against Michael Gove at the election on culture platform". Independent. Retrieved 1 March 2015.
  13. ↑ "Election Data 2010". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 17 October 2015. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
  14. ↑ "Election Data 2005". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
  15. ↑ "Election Data 2001". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
  16. ↑ "Election Data 1997". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.

Sources

Coordinates: 51°21′N 0°42′W / 51.35°N 0.70°W / 51.35; -0.70

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