Dover (UK Parliament constituency)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Dover County constituency |
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| Dover shown within Kent, and Kent shown within England | |
| Created: | 1369 |
| MP: | Gwyn Prosser |
| Party: | Labour |
| Type: | House of Commons |
| County: | Kent |
| EP constituency: | South East England |
Dover 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.
Contents |
[edit] Boundaries
Dover constituency consists of the greater part of Dover District comprising the towns of Dover, Deal and Walmer together with surrounding villages. It excludes the northern area around the ancient Cinque Port of Sandwich, which together with surrounding villages is part of the Thanet South constituency. It has been a traditional Tory-Labour marginal, with Conservative-voting rural areas competing against mainly Labour-voting Dover itself, plus some former mining villages in the former Kent coalfield, such as Aylesham. Labour held on very solidly here in 2005,with virtually no swing from the previous General Election.
[edit] Boundary review
Following their review of parliamentary representation in Kent, the Boundary Commission for England made major changes to the existing constituency boundaries as a consequence of population changes in the county.
The Commission rejected proposals to rename the constituency "Dover and Deal" during the public consultation process. The Commission said with regard to this point:
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- The Commission noted that whilst these constituencies had undergone some slight changes they were not sufficient to warrant changing their names and they considered that the existing names were still appropriate.
The electoral wards used in the formation of the modified Dover constituency are;
- Aylesham, Buckland, Capel-le-Ferne, Castle, Eastry, Eythorne and Shepherdswell, Lydden and Temple Ewell, Maxton, Elms Vale and Priory, Middle Deal and Sholden, Mill Hill, North Deal, Ringwould, River, St Margaret’s-at-Cliffe, St Radigunds, Tower Hamlets, Town and Pier, Walmer and Whitfield.
[edit] Members of Parliament
- 1945 — 1950: John Thomas, Labour
- 1950 — 1964: John Arbuthnot, Conservative
- 1964 — 1970: David Ennals, Labour
- 1970 — 1987: Peter Rees, Conservative
- Constituency renamed as Dover and Deal (1974), but reverted to Dover (1983)
- 1987 — 1997: David Shaw, Conservative
- 1997 — present: Gwyn Prosser, Labour
[edit] Elections
| General Election 2005: Dover | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
| Labour | Gwyn Prosser | 21,680 | 45.3 | -3.5 | |
| Conservative | Paul Watkins | 16,739 | 35.0 | -2.2 | |
| Liberal Democrats | Antony Hook | 7,607 | 15.9 | +4.5 | |
| UK Independence | Mike Wiltshire | 1,252 | 2.6 | +0.1 | |
| Independent (politician) | Vic Matcham | 606 | 1.3 | +1.3 | |
| Majority | 4,941 | 10.3 | |||
| Turnout | 47,884 | 67.6 | 2.5 | ||
| Labour hold | Swing | -0.6 | |||
| General Election 2001: Dover | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
| Labour | Gwyn Prosser | 21,943 | 48.8 | -5.7 | |
| Conservative | Paul Watkins | 16,744 | 37.2 | +4.4 | |
| Liberal Democrats | Anthony Hook | 5,131 | 11.4 | +3.5 | |
| UK Independence | Lee Speakman | 1,142 | 2.5 | +1.7 | |
| Majority | 5,199 | 11.6 | |||
| Turnout | 44,960 | 65.1 | -13.7 | ||
| Labour hold | Swing | ||||
