Derby South (UK Parliament constituency)

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Derby South Borough constituency

Derby South shown within Derbyshire, and Derbyshire shown within England
Created:	1950
MP:	Margaret Beckett
Party:	Labour
Type:	House of Commons
County:	Derbyshire
EP constituency:	East Midlands

Derby South is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elects one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first past the post system of election.

1 Boundaries
2 History
3 Members of Parliament
4 Election results
5 See also

[edit] Boundaries

Derby South constituency covers the southern part of the city of Derby.

[edit] History

Derby South (from January 2007) will be comprised of the seven City of Derby wards of Alvaston, Arboretum, Blagreaves, Boulton, Chellaston, Normanton, and Sinfin. The electorate to be 69,584.

A fairly safe Labour seat since the Second World War, current Foreign Secretary (2006), Margaret Beckett was on the end of a 12% swing to the Lib-Dems in 2005. This swing was due to a combination of factors including students opposing Labour's policy on tuition fees, an anti-Iraq war backlash from Muslim voters and a general increase in Liberal Democrat campaigning across the constituency.

Labour continue to have problems mainly due to its national and international policies, as demonstrated by the defection of 37 local Labour Party members to the Lib-Dems, who claimed it was a protest at the government's Middle East policies. However, the defections came after the ceasefire had been declared in the Lebanon and it is has been suggested that this had more to do with at least one of their number not being selected for a Labour council seat. Checks by the Labour Party were also reported to have found that only eight of the defectors were fully verified or current Labour Party members, but this is disputed by the Liberal Democrat agent and others.

With both Conservative and Liberal Democrat attention focused elsewhere in Mid-Derbyshire and Derby North along with changes in January 2007 to the constituency boundary, Beckett's majority in the seat should strengthen and ensure it remains a solid Labour seat.

[edit] Members of Parliament

1950 – 1970: Philip Noel-Baker, Labour
1970 – 1983: Walter Johnson, Labour
1983 – present: Margaret Beckett, Labour

[edit] Election results

General Election 2005: Derby South
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Margaret Beckett	19,683	45.4	−11.0
	Liberal Democrats	Lucy Care	14,026	32.3	+13.0
	Conservative	David Brackenbury	8,211	18.9	−5.4
	UK Independence	David Black	845	1.9	N/A
	Veritas	Frank Leeming	608	1.4	N/A
Majority			5,657	13.0
Turnout			43,373	61.6	+5.7
	Labour hold		Swing

General Election 2001: Derby South
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Margaret Beckett	24,310	56.4	+0.2
	Conservative	Simon Spencer	10,455	24.3	−0.9
	Liberal Democrats	Anders Hanson	8,310	19.3	+4.9
Majority			13,855	32.1
Turnout			43,075	55.9	−12.2
	Labour hold		Swing

[edit] See also

List of Parliamentary constituencies in Derbyshire

Constituencies in the East Midlands
Labour	Amber Valley \| Ashfield \| Bassetlaw \| Bolsover \| Broxtowe \| Corby \| Derby North \| Derby South \| Erewash \| Gedling \| High Peak \| Leicester East \| Leicester South \| Leicester West \| Lincoln \| Loughborough \| Mansfield \| Northampton North \| North East Derbyshire \| North West Leicestershire \| Nottingham East \| Nottingham North \| Nottingham South \| Sherwood \| South Derbyshire
Conservative	Blaby \| Boston and Skegness \| Bosworth \| Charnwood \| Daventry \| Gainsborough \| Grantham and Stamford \| Harborough \| Kettering \| Louth and Horncastle \| Newark \| Northampton South \| Rushcliffe \| Rutland and Melton \| Sleaford and North Hykeham \| South Holland and The Deepings \| Wellingborough \| West Derbyshire
Liberal Democrat	Chesterfield
East Midlands European constituency: Conservative (2) \| UKIP (2) \| Labour (1) \| Liberal Democrats (1)