Politics in Luton
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
This article is based around Politics in Luton
Luton is a unitary authority, and remains part of the ceremonial county of Bedfordshire. It is currently represented on 3 different tiers of Government.
- Luton Borough Council (Local)
- East of England Regional Assembly (regional)
- UK Parliament - 2 MP's (national)
Luton Borough Council is the local government entity, which is made up of councillors from the 19 wards that split up the town. The current leaders of the council are the Liberal Democrats, but there is no overall majority.
Contents |
[edit] History
Prior to the Local Government Act 1972, Luton had been a county borough, but still part of the county of Bedfordshire. However, with the abolition of the county boroughs, Luton was fully integrated into Bedfordshire and it's county council. This wasn't to last however, as in 1992, the Local Government Commission for England (1992), recommended that Luton be made into a unitary authority and be separate of the county council. The government agreed and this was enforced from 1997 onwards.
Luton still remains part of Bedfordshire, but only for ceremonial reasons and is still covered by one Lord Lieutenant.
[edit] Luton Borough Council
| Luton Borough Council | |
 |
|
| Type | Unitary Authority |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1997 |
| Headquarters | Luton, Bedfordshire |
| Website | http://www.luton.gov.uk/ |
The council is split and represented by 19 wards, with a total of 48 councilors. Of these councillors, 21 are Liberal Democrats [1], 20 are Labour [2] 4 are Conservative [3] and 2 are Independent [4]
The wards that these councillors represent are:
- Barnfield
- Biscot
- Bramingham
- Challney
- Crawley
- Dallow
- Farley
- High Town
- Icknield
- Leagrave
- Lewsey
- Limbury
- Northwell
- Round Green
- Saints
- South
- Stopsley
- Sundon Park
- Wigmore
The council offices are centred on the Town Hall on George street, Luton.
[edit] East of England Regional Assembly
Whilst not a directly elected body, the East of England Regional Assembly is responsible for promoting the economic, environmental and social well-being of the East England region. It is made up of representatives from councils across the region, business organisations, public sector agencies, education and training bodies, trade unions and co-operatives and the voluntary and community sector.
[edit] UK Parliament
In Luton, there are two constituencies, Luton North and Luton South. The current two Members of Parliament (MP) are Kelvin Hopkins (Luton North - Labour) since 1997 and Margaret Moran (Luton South - Labour) also since 1997.
From 1979 the MP's from Luton were Conservative, however, in the 1997 General Election, both constituencies were taken by won by the Labour party candidates, these were sucessfully held at the 2001 and 2005 general elections..
The town of Luton had until 1885 been part of the Bedfordshire constituency which was created in 1290. Upon the abolition of this seat the constituency of Luton was created which remained the only seat in the town until 1974.
In 1974 the single Luton seat was divided into two, Luton West and Luton East. These two seats were fairly short lived and in 1983 the current Luton North and Luton South seats were created.
Over the years Luton has been represented by various political parties, and as can be seen below has often mirrored the Government of the day.
[edit] Members of Parliament for Luton Constituency
| Election | Member | Party | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1885 | Cyril Flower | Liberal | |
| 1892 | Samuel Howard Whitbread | ||
| 1895 | Thomas Gair Ashton | Liberal | |
| 1911 | Cecil Bisshopp Harmsworth | Liberal | |
| 1922 | Sir John Prescott Hewett | ||
| 1923 | Geoffrey William Algernon Howard | Liberal | |
| 1924 | Terence James O'Connor | Unionist | |
| 1929 | Edward Leslie Burgin | Liberal | |
| 1931 | National Liberal | ||
| 1945 | William Warbey | Labour | |
| 1950 | Charles Hill | Conservative | |
| 1963 | William Howie | Labour | |
| 1970 | Charles Simeons | Conservative | |
| 1974 | Constituency abolished: see Luton East and Luton West | ||
[edit] Luton East
- Constituency created (1974)
| Year | Member | Party | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1974 | Ivor Clemitson | Labour | |
| 1979 | Graham Bright | Conservative | |
- Constituency abolished (1983)
[edit] Luton West
- Constituency created (1974)
| Year | Member | Party | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1974 | Brian Sedgemore | Labour | |
| 1979 | John Russell Carlisle | Conservative | |
- Constituency abolished (1983)
[edit] Luton North
- Constituency created (1983)
[edit] Luton South
- Constituency created (1983)
| Year | Member | Party | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1983 | Graham Bright | Conservative | |
| 1987 | Graham Bright | Conservative | |
| 1992 | Graham Bright | Conservative | |
| 1997 | Margaret Moran | Labour | |
| 2001 | Margaret Moran | Labour | |
| 2005 | Margaret Moran | Labour | |
