Witney (UK Parliament constituency)

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Witney
County constituency

Witney shown within Oxfordshire, and Oxfordshire shown within England
Created: 1983
MP: David Cameron
Party: Conservative
Type: House of Commons
County: Oxfordshire
EP constituency: South East England

Witney 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. The constituency is represented by Conservative Party leader David Cameron.

Contents

[edit] Boundaries

The constituency covers the West Oxfordshire district in Oxfordshire, including the town of Witney itself, as well as Burford, Carterton, Chipping Norton and Eynsham. It also contains the villages of Shipton on Cherwell and Yarnton from the Cherwell district.

Following a review by the Boundary Commission for England, at the next general election the constituency boundaries will be changed to match those of West Oxfordshire exactly, and the parts of Cherwell district will be covered by the Oxford West and Abingdon constituency.

[edit] History

The constituency was created in 1983, from parts of the Banbury and Mid Oxfordshire constituencies. It is a safe seat for the Conservative Party. Its first MP was the former Oxon Mid MP Douglas Hurd, who served as a cabinet minister under both Margaret Thatcher and John Major, and stood down in 1997.

Hurd was succeeded by Shaun Woodward at the 1997 general election. However, Woodward defected to the Labour Party in January 2000, and Witney unexpectedly had a Labour MP. Woodward was deemed unlikely to be re-elected in Witney as a Labour candidate, and moved to contest the Labour safe seat of St Helens South instead. At the 2001 general election, David Cameron was elected as MP for Witney and has held the seat since then. He has been the leader of the Conservative Party since December 2005.

[edit] Members of Parliament

[edit] Elections

General Election 2005: Witney
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative David Cameron 26,571 49.3 +4.3
Liberal Democrats Liz Leffman 12,415 23.0 +2.7
Labour Tony Gray 11,845 22.0 −6.8
Green Richard Dossett-Davies 1,682 3.2 +0.9
UKIP Paul Wesson 1,356 2.5 +0.9
Majority 14,156 26.3
Turnout 53,869 69.0 +3.1
Conservative hold Swing +0.8


General Election 2001: Witney
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative David Cameron 22,153 45.0 +2.0
Labour Michael Bartlet 14,180 28.8 -1.8
Liberal Democrats Gareth Epps 10,000 20.3 +0.5
Green Mark Stevenson 1,100 2.2 +1.1
Independent (politician) Barry Beadle 1,003 2.0 N/A
UKIP Kenneth Dukes 767 1.6 +0.2
Majority 7,973 16.2
Turnout 49,203 65.9 -10.8
Conservative gain from Labour Swing

[edit] See also

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)