Hertford and Stortford (UK Parliament constituency)

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Hertford and Stortford County constituency
Hertford and Stortford shown within Hertfordshire, and Hertfordshire shown within England
Created:	1983
MP:	Mark Prisk
Party:	Conservative
Type:	House of Commons
County:	Hertfordshire
EP constituency:	East of England

Hertford and Stortford 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 1 Boundaries 2 Description 3 Members of Parliament 4 Election results 5 See also

[edit] Boundaries

Following their review of parliamentary representation in Hertfordshire the Boundary Commission for England have recommended the creation of a modified Hertford and Stortford seat for the next United Kingdom general election. The electoral wards are taken from the district of East Hertfordshire:

• Bishop’s Stortford All Saints, Bishop’s Stortford Central, Bishop’s Stortford Meads, Bishop’s Stortford Silverleys, Bishop’s Stortford South, Great Amwell, Hertford Bengeo, Hertford Castle, Hertford Heath, Hertford Kingsmead, Hertford Sele, Hunsdon, Much Hadham, Sawbridgeworth, Stanstead Abbots, Ware Chadwell, Ware Christchurch, Ware St Mary’s, and Ware Trinity.

[edit] Description

The constituency is semi-rural. There are picturesque villages and farmland separating the county town of Hertford, population 25,000. The rivers Rib, Beane, Mimram, and Lea all meet in Hertford, which is protected from over development by Green Belt land which encircles the town separating it from its neighbour Ware (17,000) in the western part of the constituency. Farms continue between Ware and the ancient market town of Bishop's Stortford with a population of more than 32,000 people in the north east corner of the seat. Bishop's Stortford has developed into a popular area for commuters, with rail links to London's Liverpool Street Station. Thorley on the south side of Stortford, contains a huge residential estate of owner occupied houses built mainly in the 1980s. The constituency is affluent, having a majority of professional and managerial workers as it is within commuting distance of London. Stansted Airport, which lies just outside the seat's eastern perimeter has been responsible for bringing jobs and an improved train service to the constituency. The pharmaceutical industry is also an important provider of jobs - Glaxo has a plant at Ware, Mercks is based at Gilston on the seat's southern border and Smith Kline Beecham has premises in neighbouring Harlow. London is within commuting distance with trains to the City running from all the towns in the constituency.

[edit] Members of Parliament

• 1983 – 2001: Bowen Wells, Conservative
• 2001 – present: Mark Prisk, Conservative

[edit] Election results

General Election 2005: Hertford and Stortford
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Mark Prisk	25,074	50.5	+5.8
	Labour	Richard Henry	11,977	24.1	−8.7
	Liberal Democrat	James Lucas	9,129	18.4	−1.5
	Green	Peter Hart	1,914	3.9	N/A
	UK Independence	David Sodey	1,026	2.1	−0.5
	Veritas	Debbie Le May	572	1.2	N/A
Majority			13,097	26.4
Turnout			49,692	67.7	+5.5
	Conservative hold		Swing	+7.2

General Election 2001: Hertford and Stortford
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Mark Prisk	21,074	44.7	+0.6
	Labour	Simon Spellar	15,471	32.8	+1.4
	Liberal Democrat	Mione Goldspink	9,388	19.9	+2.2
	UK Independence	Stuart Rising	1,243	2.6	+0.4
Majority			5,603	11.9
Turnout			47,176	62.2	-13.3
	Conservative hold		Swing

[edit] See also

• List of Parliamentary constituencies in Hertfordshire

Constituencies in the East of England
Conservative	Billericay | Braintree | Brentwood and Ongar | Broxbourne | Bury St Edmunds | Castle Point | Central Suffolk and North Ipswich | Epping Forest | Harwich | Hemel Hempstead | Hertford and Stortford | Hertsmere | Hitchin and Harpenden | Huntingdon | Maldon and East Chelmsford | Mid Bedfordshire | Mid Norfolk | North Essex | North East Bedfordshire | North East Cambridgeshire | North East Hertfordshire | North West Cambridgeshire | North West Norfolk | Peterborough | Rayleigh | Rochford and Southend East | Saffron Walden | Southend West | South Cambridgeshire | South East Cambridgeshire | South Norfolk | South Suffolk | South West Bedfordshire | South West Hertfordshire | South West Norfolk | St Albans | Suffolk Coastal | Welwyn Hatfield | West Chelmsford | West Suffolk
Labour	Basildon | Bedford | Great Yarmouth | Harlow | Ipswich | Luton North | Luton South | Norwich North | Norwich South | Stevenage | Thurrock | Watford | Waveney
Liberal Democrat	Cambridge | Colchester | North Norfolk
East of England European constituency: Conservative (3) | UKIP (2) | Labour (1) | Liberal Democrats (1)