Spelthorne (UK Parliament constituency)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

You have new messages (last change).
Spelthorne
Borough constituency

Spelthorne shown within Surrey, and Surrey shown within England
Created: 1918
MP: David Wilshire
Party: Conservative
Type: House of Commons
County: Surrey
EP constituency: South East England

Spelthorne 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. David Wilshire has been the MP for this constituency since 1987.

Contents

[edit] Boundaries

[edit] History

Spelthorne is one of the traditional hundreds of the historic county of Middlesex. The hundred has an area larger than the modern Borough of Spelthorne, which is located in the south west of the historic county. When Greater London was formed in 1965 it incorporated almost all of the historic county of Middlesex. The area of this constituency was however transferred, for administrative purposes, to the county of Surrey. It is the northern part of the modern (2007) administrative county of Surrey.

Before 1918 the area formed part of the Uxbridge constituency, which was the westernmost division of Middlesex.

1918-1945: When the constituency was first created (as a Middlesex county division), by the Representation of the People Act 1918, it occupied the south west of the county. The seat was larger than it is today and included the whole of the traditional hundred. It comprised the then local government areas of the Urban Districts based upon the towns of Feltham, Hampton, Hampton Wick, Staines, Sunbury-on-Thames and Teddington as well as Staines Rural District.

1945-1950: The constituency was altered. It lost the east of the previous division (the Hampton, Hampton Wick and Teddington areas) to Twickenham constituency. It gained new territory to the north from the Uxbridge division. The local government areas in the seat in 1945 were Feltham Urban District, Staines Urban District, Sunbury-on-Thames Urban District and Yiewsley and West Drayton Urban District.

1950-1955: Yiewsley and West Drayton were returned to the Uxbridge constituency. Spelthorne was reduced to the Urban Districts of Feltham, Staines and Sunbury-on-Thames.

1955 onwards: In the 1955 redistribution Feltham became the centre of the new Feltham constituency. The Urban Districts of Staines and Sunbury-on-Thames (which in 1974 were merged to form the Borough of Spelthorne) remained and have formed the modern Spelthorne constituency ever since.

The seat was accounted as a borough constituency of Surrey, from the February 1974 general election. This was the result of the first redistribution after the formation of Greater London.

[edit] Modern Spelthorne

Spelthorne lies just south of Heathrow airport and north of the river Thames. It is a very built-up area and has far fewer open green spaces, private roads and woodlands than are commonly found further south in Surrey.

However, the area is still very affluent. Most residents can afford to buy their own homes, council housing accounting for only 10% of the total, and the proportion of professionals and managerial workers is high. The are several working class areas, most notably Stanwell, which was the only county council ward to give Labour a majority on the same day as the 1997 general election. Unemployment is low and there are very few manual workers.

Commercially, the area is one of the most active in Surrey. About 20% of all commercial or industrial property in the County is located here, including the headquarters of many national and international companies, such as BP, Courage, the Ian Allen Group, McVitie's, Del Monte, Samsung Electronics and Shepperton Film Studios.

Its boundaries are exactly the same as that of the Spelthorne Borough, and it includes the towns of Ashford, Staines, Stanwell and Sunbury.

The Boundary Commission has proposed no boundary changes for this constituency in the boundary review due before the next election.

[edit] History

Spelthorne has been a Conservative stronghold for decades. The only time a non-Conservative Member of Parliament was elected was in the 1945 general election, when George Pargiter was elected for one term.

[edit] Members of Parliament

David Wilshire is the current Member of Parliament for Spelthorne, and was first elected in the 1987 general election. He is a member of the Conservative Party.

  • Constituency created (1918)
Year Member Party
1918 Sir Philip Pilditch Coalition Conservative
1922 Conservative
1931 Sir Reginald Blaker Conservative
1945 George Pargiter Labour
1950 Sir (George) Beresford Craddock Conservative
1970 Rt Hon. Sir Humphrey Atkins Conservative
1987 David Wilshire Conservative

[edit] Elections

[edit] Elections in the 2000s

General election of 2005
General Election 2005: Spelthorne
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative David Wilshire 21,620 50.5 +5.4
Labour Keith Dibble 11,684 27.3 −10.0
Liberal Democrats Simon James 7,318 17.1 +2.4
UK Independence Christopher Browne 1,968 4.6 +1.7
UK Community Issues Party Caroline Schwark 239 0.6 N/A
Majority 9,936 23.2
Turnout 42,829 58.8 −2.0
Conservative hold Swing 7.7
General election of 2001
General Election 2001: Spelthorne
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative David Wilshire 18,851 45.1 +0.2
Labour Andrew Shaw 15,589 37.3 −0.9
Liberal Democrats Martin Rimmer 6,156 14.7 +1.6
UK Independence Richard Squire 1,198 2.9 +2.0
Majority 3,262 7.8
Turnout 41,794 60.8 −12.4
Conservative hold Swing 0.6

[edit] Elections in the 1990s

General election of 1997
General Election 1997: Spelthorne
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative David Wilshire 23,306 44.9 −13.7
Labour Keith Dibble 19,833 38.2 +15.3
Liberal Democrats Edward Glynn 6,821 13.1 −3.4
Referendum Party Barry Coleman 1,495 2.9 N/A
UK Independence John Fowler 462 0.9 N/A
Majority 3,473 6.7
Turnout 52,107 73.2 7.2
Conservative hold Swing −14.5
General election of 1992
General Election 1992: Spelthorne
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative David Wilshire 32,627 58.6 −1.4
Labour Ann Leedham 12,784 22.9 5.8
Liberal Democrats Roger Roberts 9,702 16.5 −6.4
Green J Wassell 580 1.0 N/A
Monster Raving Loony D Rea 338 0.6 N/A
Natural Law D Ellis 195 0.3 N/A
Majority 19,843 35.7 −1.4
Turnout 69,344 80.4 6.3
Conservative hold Swing

[edit] Elections in the 1980s

General election of 1987
General Election 1987: Spelthorne
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative David Wilshire 32,440 60.0 7.6
Social Democrat Mrs. M. Cunningham 12,390 22.9 −3.1
Labour D.F.J. Welfare 9,227 17.1 1.6
Majority 20,050 37.1 10.8
Turnout 72,967 74.1 3.1
Conservative hold Swing
General election of 1983

Richard Adams, standing as an Independent Conservative, opposed the hunting of foxes with hounds. He was famous as the author of the novel "Watership Down". Atkins on the other hand was a noted supporter of foxhunting.

General Election 1983: Spelthorne
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Rt. Hon. Sir Humphrey Atkins 26,863 52.4 −5.0
Social Democrat A.W. Layton 13,357 26.0 +12.1
Labour M.C. Rowlands 7,926 15.5 −12.3
Ind. Conservative Richard Adams 2,816 5.5 +5.5
FTACMP E.J. Butterfield 325 0.6 +0.6
Majority 13,506 26.3 −3.3
Turnout 69,344 80.4 +3.1
Conservative hold Swing N/A

[edit] Elections in the 1970s

General election of 1979
General Election 1979: Spelthorne
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Rt. Hon. Humphrey Atkins 31,290 57.4
Labour C.H. Dodwell 15,137 27.8
Liberal Paul Winner 7,565 13.9
National Front J. Sawyer 518 0.9
Majority 16,153 29.6
Turnout 54,520 76.9
Registered Electors 70,898
Conservative hold Swing

[edit] Sources

[edit] See also

[edit] Reference

  • Boundaries of Parliamentary Constituencies 1885-1972, compiled and edited by F.W.S. Craig (Parliamentary Reference Publications 1972)


Constituencies in South East England
Conservative

Aldershot | Arundel and South Downs | Ashford | Aylesbury | Banbury | Basingstoke | Beaconsfield | Bexhill and Battle | Bognor Regis and Littlehampton | Bracknell | Buckingham | Canterbury | Chesham and Amersham | Chichester | East Hampshire | East Surrey | East Worthing and Shoreham | Eastbourne | Epsom and Ewell | Esher and Walton | Fareham | Faversham and Mid Kent | Folkestone and Hythe | Gosport | Gravesham | Guildford | Havant | Henley | Horsham | Isle of Wight | Maidenhead | Maidstone and The Weald | Mid Sussex | Mole Valley | New Forest East | New Forest West | Newbury | North East Hampshire | North East Milton Keynes | North Thanet | North West Hampshire | Reading East | Reigate | Runnymede and Weybridge | Sevenoaks | South West Surrey | Spelthorne | Surrey Heath | Tonbridge and Malling | Tunbridge Wells | Wantage | Wealden | Windsor | Witney | Woking | Wokingham | Worthing West | Wycombe
Labour

Brighton Kemptown | Brighton Pavilion | Chatham and Aylesford | Crawley | Dartford | Dover | Gillingham | Hastings and Rye | Hove | Medway | Milton Keynes South West | Oxford East | Portsmouth North | Reading West | Sittingbourne and Sheppey | Slough | Southampton Itchen | Southampton Test | South Thanet
Liberal Democrat

Eastleigh | Lewes | Oxford West and Abingdon | Portsmouth South | Romsey | Winchester
South East European constituency: Conservative (4) | UKIP (2) | Liberal Democrats (2) | Labour (1) | Green (1)
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org../../../s/p/e/Spelthorne_%28UK_Parliament_constituency%29_1135.html"