Welwyn Hatfield (UK Parliament constituency)

Welwyn Hatfield
County constituency for the House of Commons
Boundary of Welwyn Hatfield in Hertfordshire.
Location of Hertfordshire within England.
County	Hertfordshire
Electorate	71,766 (December 2010)[1]
Current constituency
Created	1974
Member of parliament	Grant Shapps (Conservative)
Number of members	One
Created from	Hertford and St Albans
Overlaps
European Parliament constituency	East of England

Welwyn Hatfield is a constituency^{[n 1]} represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2005 by Grant Shapps, a Conservative.^{[n 2]}

History

The seat was called for by the second periodic review of Westminster seats (the first periodic review led by the Boundary Commission was in 1945 and followed that of the Representation of the People Act 1918). Its changes were made in time for the first 1974 general election which resulted in a temporary minority administration on a hung parliament.

Political history

Despite its short history, the seat has seen two parties serve it, with two Labour periods of representation, during the longer part of the Labour Government 1974-1979 and during the first two terms of the Blair ministry. Other than this the seat has elected a Conservative as its MP.

The present majority more than tripled on the second election of Grant Shapps, in 2010, from a historically breakable (in the constituency) majority of 5,946 votes to the 26th largest Conservative share of the vote,^[2] which on standard uniform swing seen in elections since 1931 represents a safe seat.

Prominent frontbenchers

The first MP ended his term in the Commons as the member for Welwyn Hatfield before which he was Defence Minister from 1970 to 1972 then a Foreign Office Minister until February 1974 - later that year Lord Balniel was awarded a life peerage,^{[n 3]} accelerating and safeguarding his right to sit in the Lords. The second MP later became the politically neutral Lord Speaker, Baroness Hayman.

Melanie Johnson during five years of the Blair-Brown government was a frontbench minister: Economic Secretary to the Treasury, Minister for Competition and Consumers and the Minister for Public Health.

Grant Shapps was appointed the Minister of State for Housing and Local Government for the first two years of the UK coalition government 2010 before being appointed to chair his party. Following the Conservative victory in 2015, he was appointed Minister of State at the Department for International Development.^[3]

Boundaries

1974-1983: The Urban District of Welwyn Garden City, and the Rural Districts of Hatfield (the civil parishes of Essendon, Hatfield, Northaw, and North Mimms) and Welwyn (the civil parishes of Ayot St Lawrence, Ayot St Peter, Digswell, and Welwyn).

1983-1997: The District of Welwyn Hatfield wards of Brookmans Park and Little Heath, Haldens, Handside, Hatfield Central, Hatfield East, Hatfield North, Hatfield South, Hollybush, Howlands, Peartree, Sherrards, Welham Green and Redhall, Welwyn East, and Welwyn West, and the City of St Albans ward of Wheathampstead.

1997-present: The District of Welwyn Hatfield except the ward of Northaw (which is in the Broxbourne constituency).

Constituency profile

The area has a higher than average proportion of the managers, professionals and of the retired than much of Greater London^[4] with a strong local economy, retail and industrial/commercial premises are particularly in Hatfield and two of the four largest Hertfordshire economic towns, Stevenage and St Albans are close by. Accordingly, workless claimants who were registered jobseekers were in November 2012 significantly lower than the national average of 3.8%, at 2.4% of the population based on a statistical compilation by The Guardian.^[5]

Members of Parliament

Election		Member[6]	Party
	Feb 1974	Lord Balniel	Conservative
	Oct 1974	Helene Hayman	Labour
	1979	Christopher Murphy	Conservative
	1987	David Evans	Conservative
	1997	Melanie Johnson	Labour
	2005	Grant Shapps	Conservative

Elections

Elections in the 2010s

General Election 2015: Welwyn Hatfield[7][8]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Grant Shapps	25,281	50.4	-6.6
	Labour	Anawar Miah	13,128	26.1	+4.8
	UKIP	Arthur Stevens[9]	6,556	13.1	+9.7
	Liberal Democrat	Hugh Annand	3,140	6.3	-10.1
	Green	Marc Scheimann[10]	1,742	3.5	+1.8
	Independent	Michael Green[11]	216	0.4	N/A
	TUSC	Richard Shattock	142	0.3	N/A
Majority			12,153	24.2
Turnout				68.5
	Conservative hold		Swing	-5.7

General Election 2010: Welwyn Hatfield[12]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Grant Shapps	27,894	57.0	+7.4
	Labour	Mike Hobday	10,471	21.4	-14.9
	Liberal Democrat	Paul Zukowskyj	8,010	16.4	+2.2
	UKIP	David Platt	1,643	3.4	N/A
	Green	Jill Weston	796	1.9	N/A
	Independent	Nigel Parker	158	0.3	N/A
Majority			17,423	35.6
Turnout			48,972	68.0	−0.2
	Conservative hold		Swing	+11.1

Elections in the 2000s

General Election 2005: Welwyn Hatfield[13]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Grant Shapps	22,172	49.6	+9.2
	Labour	Melanie Johnson	16,226	36.3	−6.9
	Liberal Democrat	Sara Bedford	6,318	14.1	0.0
Majority			5,946	13.3
Turnout			44,716	68.1	+4.2
	Conservative gain from Labour		Swing	+8.0

General Election 2001: Welwyn Hatfield[14]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Melanie Johnson	18,484	43.2	−3.9
	Conservative	Grant Shapps	17,288	40.4	+3.9
	Liberal Democrat	Daniel Cooke	6,021	14.1	+0.5
	UKIP	Malcolm Biggs	798	1.9	N/A
	ProLife Alliance	Fiona Pinto	230	0.5	+0.0
Majority			1,196	2.8
Turnout			42,821	63.9	−14.7
	Labour hold		Swing	-3.9

Elections in the 1990s

General Election 1997: Welwyn Hatfield[15]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Melanie Johnson	24,936	47.1	+11.1
	Conservative	David Evans	19,341	36.5	−11.0
	Liberal Democrat	Rodney S. Schwartz	7,161	13.5	−2.5
	Residents Association	V. Ernest Cox	1,263	2.4	N/A
	ProLife Alliance	Helen T. Harrold	267	0.5	N/A
Majority			5,595	10.6
Turnout			52,968	78.6
	Labour gain from Conservative		Swing	+11.05

General Election 1992: Welwyn Hatfield[16][17]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	David Evans	29,447	48.4	+2.7
	Labour	RA Little	20,982	34.5	+8.1
	Liberal Democrat	Robin G. Parker	10,196	16.7	−10.6
	Natural Law	Ms. ET Lucas	264	0.4	N/A
Majority			8,465	13.9	−4.4
Turnout			60,889	84.3	+3.4
	Conservative hold		Swing	−2.7

Elections in the 1980s

General Election 1987: Welwyn Hatfield[18]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	David Evans	27,164	45.63
	Social Democratic	LP Granshaw	16,261	27.32
	Labour	Christopher Richard Pond	15,699	26.37
	Independent Conservative	BI Dyson	401	0.67
Majority			10,903	18.32
Turnout				80.87
	Conservative hold		Swing

General Election 1983: Welwyn Hatfield[19]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Christopher Murphy	27,498	47.70
	Social Democratic	L Granshaw	15,252	26.46
	Labour	J France	14,898	25.84
Majority			12,246	21.24
Turnout				79.36
	Conservative hold		Swing

Elections in the 1970s

General Election 1979: Welwyn Hatfield
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Christopher Murphy	28,892	48.59
	Labour	Helene Hayman	25,418	42.75
	Liberal	J Hurd	4,688	7.88
	National Front	P Ruddock	459	0.77
Majority			3,474	5.84
Turnout				84.99
	Conservative gain from Labour		Swing

General Election October 1974: Welwyn Hatfield
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Helene Hayman	23,339	42.76
	Conservative	Lord Balniel	22,819	41.81
	Liberal	PH Robinson	8,418	15.42
Majority			520	0.95
Turnout				81.28
	Labour gain from Conservative		Swing

General Election February 1974: Welwyn Hatfield
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Lord Balniel	22,581	39.85
	Labour	CW Sewell	21,166	37.35
	Liberal	P Robinson	12,923	22.80
Majority			1,415	2.50
Turnout				85.32
	Conservative hold		Swing

See also

• List of Parliamentary constituencies in Hertfordshire

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. Balniel joined his father, the Earl of Crawford, who from 1963 no longer had to be regularly elected as a representative peer

References

1. "Electorate Figures - Boundary Commission for England". 2011 Electorate Figures. Boundary Commission for England. 4 March 2011. Retrieved 13 March 2011.
2. The Electoral Commission 2010 results
3. https://www.gov.uk/government/people/grant-shapps
4. 2011 Census
5. Unemployment claimants by constituency The Guardian
6. Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "W" (part 2)
7. "Election Data 2015". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 17 October 2015. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
8. "Statement Of Persons Nominated And Notice Of Poll". Acting Returning Officer. 9 April 2015. Retrieved 14 April 2015.
9. http://ukpollingreport.co.uk/2015guide/welwynhatfield/
10. "Marc Scheimann PPC page". Green Party of England and Wales. Retrieved 1 February 2015.
11. Burke, Dave (29 April 2015). "Satire show comic is standing against Grant Shapps after changing name to Michael Green". Welwyn Hatfield Times. Retrieved 29 April 2015.
12. "Election Data 2010". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 17 October 2015. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
13. "Election Data 2005". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
14. "Election Data 2001". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
15. "Election Data 1997". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
16. "Election Data 1992". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
17. "Politics Resources". Election 1992. Politics Resources. 9 April 1992. Retrieved 2010-12-06.
18. "Election Data 1987". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
19. "Election Data 1983". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.

Coordinates: 51°46′10″N 0°11′40″W / 51.76944°N 0.19444°W