South West Surrey (UK Parliament constituency)

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South West Surrey County constituency
South West Surrey shown within Surrey, and Surrey shown within England
Created:	1983
MP:	Jeremy Hunt
Party:	Conservative
Type:	House of Commons
County:	Surrey
EP constituency:	South East England

South West Surrey is a county 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 History 3 Members of Parliament 4 Election results 4.1 Elections in the 1980s 4.2 Elections in the 1990s 4.3 Elections in the 2000s 5 Sources 6 See also

[edit] Boundaries

It covers the Waverley district of Surrey and including the towns of Farnham, Godalming and Haslemere.

The Boundary Commission has made its final recommendations for boundary changes in Surrey. Proposed changes to South West Surrey would see the relignment of the boundary with Guildford in order to bring it in line with the recent adjustment of local government wards. Guildford's electorate is the largest of the county and the review aims to reduce it. Two wards are currently split between the two constituencies: Bramley, Busbridge and Hascombe, which will be placed entirely in South West Surrey; and Alfold, Cranleigh Rural and Ellens Green which will be placed entirely in Guildford. The net effect is to increase the number of voters in South West Surrey and reduce the number in Guildford.

A public review was called, dealing primarily with objections to transferring Bramley to South West Surrey. Many petitioned to argue that the village's links, especially transport, are mainly with Guildford rather than the towns of Godalming and Farnham. The precedent of the previous review was cited, when a proposal to move Bramley out of Guildford and into Mole Valley was rejected after local opposition. However the review felt that this did not justify splitting the ward (something the Boundary Commission seeks to avoid completely) and that the other parts of the ward had strong links to Godalming. Furthermore it cited the point that in the previous review Bramley Parish Council had stated that if it were to be moved it would prefer to be moved to South West Surrey and thus argued that the previous objection was not strong enough.

[edit] History

It came into being at the 1983 general election, largely replacing the former Farnham constituency. It has been consistently won by the Conservative Party but by decreasing majorities, a mere 861 votes in 2001, leaving it the Liberal Democrat's third target constituency by swing required. The 2005 election saw this trend reverse and the new Conservative candidate Jeremy Hunt won a larger majority than at the 2001 election.

[edit] Members of Parliament

• Constituency created (1983)

Election		Member	Party
	1983	Maurice Macmillan	Conservative
	1984	Virginia Bottomley	Conservative
	1987
	1992
	1997
	2001
	2005	Jeremy Hunt	Conservative

[edit] Election results

[edit] Elections in the 1980s

General Election 1983: South West Surrey
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Maurice Macmillan	31,067	59.7
	Liberal	Gavin Scott	16,716	32.1
	Labour	S E D Williams	4,239	8.2
Majority			14,351	27.6
Turnout			52,022	74.5
	New creation: Conservative gain.		Swing	N/A

By-Election 1984: South West Surrey
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Virginia Bottomley	21,545	49.3	-10.4
	Liberal	Gavin Scott	18,946	43.4	+11.3
	Labour	Barbara Roche	2,949	6.7	-1.5
	Pro-Holocaust Masturbation Freedom	Victor Litvin	117	0.3	N/A
	Death off Roads: Freight on Rail	Helen Anscomb	82	0.2	N/A
	Votes for a full hearing	Peter Smith	29	0.1	N/A
Majority			2,599	5.9
Turnout			43,668	61.7	-12.8
	Conservative hold		Swing	-10.9

General Election 1987: South West Surrey
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Virginia Bottomley	34,024	59.5	-0.2
	Liberal	Gavin Scott	19,681	34.4	+2.3
	Labour	J K P Evers	3,224	5.6	-2.6
	Independent Conservative	M J Green	299	0.5	N/A
Majority			14,343	25.1
Turnout			57,228	78.4	+3.9
	Conservative hold		Swing	-1.3

[edit] Elections in the 1990s

General Election 1992: South West Surrey
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Virginia Bottomley	35,008	58.5	-1.0
	Liberal Democrat	Neil Sherlock	20,033	33.5	-0.9
	Labour	Phil Kelly	3,840	6.4	+0.6
	Green	N Bedrock	710	1.2	N/A
	Natural Law	K Campbell	147	0.3	N/A
	Anglo-Saxon	D Newman	98	0.2	N/A
Majority			14,975	25.0
Turnout			59,836	82.8	+4.4
	Conservative hold		Swing	-0.1

This constituency underwent boundary changes between the 1992 and 1997 general elections and thus change in share of vote is based on a notional calculation.

General Election 1997: South West Surrey
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Virginia Bottomley	25,165	44.6	-13.9
	Liberal Democrat	Neil Sherlock	22,471	39.8	+6.3
	Labour	Margaret Leicester	5,333	9.4	+3.0
	Referendum Party	Judith Clementson	2,830	5.0	N/A
	UK Independence	James Kirby	401	0.7	N/A
	ProLife Alliance	Josephine Quintavalle	258	0.5	N/A
Majority			2,694	4.8
Turnout			56,458	77.5
	Conservative hold		Swing	-10.1

[edit] Elections in the 2000s

General Election 2001: South West Surrey
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Virginia Bottomley	22,462	45.3	+0.7
	Liberal Democrat	Simon Cordon	21,601	43.6	+3.8
	Labour	Martin Whelton	4,321	8.7	-0.7
	UK Independence	Timothy Clark	1,208	2.4	+1.7
Majority			861	1.7
Turnout			49,592	70.3	-7.2
	Conservative hold		Swing	-1.6

General Election 2005: South West Surrey
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Jeremy Hunt	26,420	50.4	+5.1
	Liberal Democrat	Simon Cordon	20,709	39.5	-4.1
	Labour	Tom Sleigh	4,150	7.9	-0.8
	UK Independence	Timothy Clark	958	1.8	-0.6
	Veritas	Glenn Platt	172	0.3	N/A
Majority			5,711	10.9
Turnout			52,409	71.8	+1.5
	Conservative hold		Swing	+4.6

[edit] Sources

• UK Constituency Maps
• Election result, 2005 (BBC)
• Election results, 1997 - 2001 (BBC)
• Election results, 1997 - 2001 (Election Demon)
• Election results, 1983 - 1992 (Election Demon)
• Election results, 1992 - 2005 (Guardian)
• By-election result, 1984

[edit] See also

• South West Surrey by-election, 1984
• List of Parliamentary constituencies in Surrey

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