Meriden (UK Parliament constituency)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| County constituency | |
|---|---|
 |
 |
| Meriden shown within West Midlands, and West Midlands shown within England | |
| Created: | 1955 |
| MP: | Caroline Spelman |
| Party: | Conservative |
| Type: | House of Commons |
| County: | West Midlands |
| EP constituency: | West Midlands |
Meriden 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
The constituency is one of two covering the Metropolitan Borough of Solihull. It covers the rural area, known as the Meriden Gap, between the West Midlands conurbation and Coventry, which contains villages such as Balsall Common, Hampton-in-Arden and Meriden itself. It also covers some urban parts of the borough, particularly Castle Bromwich and Chelmsley Wood (a large area of 1960s council housing on the eastern edge of Birmingham), but also the affluent areas of Dorridge and Knowle.
[edit] History
A Meriden constituency was first established in 1955, but that constituency was considerably different from the present one, and included much of the current North Warwickshire constituency. That seat was a Labour/Conservative marginal, covering the coal mining areas of northern Warwickshire and the more affluent area near Solihull. It changed hands between the two parties several times, including in a by-election in 1968, which was won by Keith Speed of the Conservatives.
The constituency took its current boundaries in 1983. Since then it has been a safe Conservative seat. Iain Mills held the seat until he died in office in January 1997, with the seat remaining vacant until the dissolution of Parliament and no by-election being held. Caroline Spelman was victorious in the 1997 general election, and has held the seat since then.
[edit] Members of Parliament
- 1955 – 1959: Reginald Moss, Labour
- 1959 – 1964: Gordon Matthews, Conservative
- 1964 – 1968: Christopher Rowland, Labour
- 1968 – 1974: Keith Speed, Conservative
- 1974 – 1979: John Tomlinson, Labour
- 1979 – 1997: Iain Mills, Conservative
- 1997 – present: Caroline Spelman, Conservative
[edit] Election results
| General Election 2005: Meriden | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
| Conservative | Caroline Spelman | 22,416 | 48.2 | +0.5 | |
| Labour | Jim Brown | 15,407 | 33.1 | −6.1 | |
| Liberal Democrats | William Laitinen | 7,113 | 15.3 | +4.2 | |
| UK Independence | Denis Brookes | 1,567 | 3.4 | +1.4 | |
| Majority | 7,009 | 15.1 | |||
| Turnout | 46,503 | 60.1 | −0.3 | ||
| Conservative hold | Swing | +3.3 | |||
| General Election 2001: Meriden | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
| Conservative | Caroline Spelman | 21,246 | 47.7 | +5.7 | |
| Labour | Christine Shawcroft | 17,462 | 39.2 | -1.8 | |
| Liberal Democrats | Nigel Hicks | 4,941 | 11.1 | -1.9 | |
| UK Independence | Richard Adams | 910 | 2.0 | N/A | |
| Majority | 3,784 | 8.5 | |||
| Turnout | 44,559 | 60.4 | -11.3 | ||
| Conservative hold | Swing | ||||
