Braintree (UK Parliament constituency)

Braintree
County constituency
for the House of Commons
Boundary of Braintree in Essex.
Location of Essex within England.
County	Essex
Electorate	72,064 (December 2010)^[1]
Current constituency
Created	1974 (1974)
Member of Parliament	Brooks Newmark (Conservative)
Number of members	One
Created from	Maldon
Overlaps
European Parliament constituency	East of England

Braintree 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.

1 Boundaries
- 1.1 Boundary review
2 History
3 Members of Parliament
4 Elections
5 See also
6 Notes and references

Boundaries

The current boundaries of the Braintree constituency is based on Braintree, Bocking, and Great Bardfield in the northwest, moving in a southwesterly direction towards Coggeshall, Silver End, and Kelvedon.

The boundary review detailed below alters Braintree as a consequence of the creation of the new Witham seat. The newly shaped constituency extends out towards the Stour Valley area against the border of Suffolk, and the Bumpstead area near the boundary of south-east Cambridgeshire.

Boundary review

Following their review of parliamentary representation in Essex, the Boundary Commission for England has created a modified Braintree constituency with the following electoral wards;

Bocking Blackwater, Bocking North, Bocking South, Braintree Central, Braintree East, Braintree South, Bumpstead, Cressing and Stisted, Gosfield and Greenstead Green, Great Notley and Braintree West, Halstead St Andrews, Halstead Trinity, Hedingham and Maplestead, Panfield, Rayne, Stour Valley North, Stour Valley South, The Three Colnes, Three Fields, Upper Colne and Yeldham.

This modified Braintree seat was fought for the first time at the 2010 general election.

History

The former Leader of the House Tony Newton held the seat for the Conservatives from its creation in 1974 until 1997 when Alan Hurst defeated Newton to gain the seat for Labour. Brooks Newmark defeated Hurst in 2005 to regain the seat for the Conservatives, and has held it since.

Members of Parliament

	Member ^[2]	Party
Feb 1974	Tony Newton	Conservative
1997	Alan Hurst	Labour
2005	Brooks Newmark	Conservative

Elections

Elections in the 2010s

General Election 2010: Braintree ^[3]^[4]^[5]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Brooks Newmark	25,901	52.6	+2.7
	Labour	Bill Edwards	9,780	19.9	-10.8
	Liberal Democrat	Steve Jarvis	9,247	18.8	+5.2
	UKIP	Michael Ford	2,477	5.0	+2.6
	BNP	Paul Hooks	1,080	2.2	+2.2
	Green	Daisy Blench	718	1.5	-1.5
Majority			16,121	32.8
Turnout			49,203	69.1	+4.9
	Conservative hold		Swing	6.7

Elections in the 2000s

General Election 2005: Braintree
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Brooks Newmark	23,597	44.5	+3.2
	Labour	Alan Hurst	19,704	37.1	-4.9
	Liberal Democrat	Peter Turner	7,037	13.3	+2.0
	Green	James Abbott	1,308	2.5	0.0
	UKIP	Roger Lord	1,181	2.2	+0.7
	Independent	Michael Nolan	228	0.4	+0.4
Majority			3,893	7.3
Turnout			53,055	65.9	+2.3
	Conservative gain from Labour		Swing	4.0

General Election 2001: Braintree^[6]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Alan Hurst	21,123	42.0	-0.7
	Conservative	Brooks Newmark	20,765	41.3	+1.2
	Liberal Democrat	Peter Turner	5,664	11.3	-0.3
	Green	James Abbott	1,241	2.5	+1.2
	Legalise Cannabis	Michael Nolan	774	1.5	N/A
	UKIP	Charlie Cole	748	1.5	N/A
Majority			358	0.7
Turnout			50,315	63.6	-12.5
	Labour hold		Swing	0.9

Elections in the 1990s

General Election 1997: Braintree^[6]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Alan Hurst	23,729	42.70
	Conservative	Tony Newton	22,278	40.09
	Liberal Democrat	T Ellis	6,418	11.55
	Referendum Party	N Westcott	2,165	3.90
	Green	James Abbott	712	1.28
	Independent	Michael Nolan	274	0.49
Majority			1,451	2.61
Turnout			55,576	76.10
	Labour gain from Conservative		Swing	12.90

General Election 1992: Braintree^[7]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Tony Newton	34,415	52.3	−1.9
	Labour	I Willmore	16,921	25.7	+6.4
	Liberal Democrat	Mrs DP Wallis	13,603	20.7	−5.8
	Green	JE Abbott	855	1.3	N/A
Majority			17,494	26.6	−1.1
Turnout			65,794	83.4	+4.4
	Conservative hold		Swing	−4.1

Notes and references

^ "Electorate Figures - Boundary Commission for England". 2011 Electorate Figures. Boundary Commission for England. 4 March 2011. http://www.boundarycommissionforengland.org.uk/electoral-figures/electoral-figures.htm. Retrieved 13 March 2011.
^ Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "B" (part 5)
^ UK Polling report - Braintree
^ http://election.pressassociation.com/Nominations/general.php
^ "BBC NEWS – Election 2010 – Braintree". BBC News. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/election2010/results/constituency/a61.stm.
^ ^a ^b Political Science Resources - Braintree 1997 & 2001
^ "Politics Resources". Election 1992. Politics Resources. 9 April 1992. http://www.politicsresources.net/area/uk/ge92/ge92index.htm. Retrieved 2010-12-06.

Constituencies in the East of England (58)

Conservative (52)	Basildon and Billericay Bedford Braintree Brentwood and Ongar Broadland Broxbourne Bury St Edmunds Castle Point Central Suffolk and North Ipswich Chelmsford Clacton Epping Forest Great Yarmouth Harlow Harwich and North Essex Hemel Hempstead Hertford and Stortford Hertsmere Hitchin and Harpenden Huntingdon Ipswich Maldon Mid Bedfordshire Mid Norfolk North East Bedfordshire North East Cambridgeshire North East Hertfordshire North West Cambridgeshire North West Norfolk Norwich North Peterborough Rayleigh and Wickford Rochford and Southend East Saffron Walden St Albans South Basildon and East Thurrock South Cambridgeshire South East Cambridgeshire Southend West South Norfolk South Suffolk South West Bedfordshire South West Hertfordshire South West Norfolk Stevenage Suffolk Coastal Thurrock Watford Waveney Welwyn Hatfield West Suffolk Witham

Liberal Democrats (4)	Cambridge Colchester North Norfolk Norwich South

Labour (2)	Luton North Luton South

East of England European constituency: Conservative (3) UKIP (2) Liberal Democrats (1) Labour (1)