Maidstone and The Weald | |
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County constituency | |
for the House of Commons | |
Boundary of Maidstone and The Weald in Kent. |
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Location of Kent within England. |
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County | Kent |
Electorate | 70,576 (December 2010)[1] |
Current constituency | |
Created | 1997 |
Member of Parliament | Helen Grant (Conservative) |
Number of members | One |
Created from | Maidstone, Mid Kent, Tunbridge Wells |
Overlaps | |
European Parliament constituency | South East England |
Maidstone and The Weald is a county constituency which elects one Member of Parliament (MP) in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom.
Contents |
The constituency is located in the middle of the county of Kent in south eastern England and includes parts of the areas of Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells boroughs. Towns include Maidstone and Cranbrook and - until the next election - Tenterden.
The constituency was created for the 1997 general election, after the previous Maidstone constituency was split in two. The southeast Maidstone wards of Shepway and Park Wood and the rural wards east of the town joined Faversham in the new Faversham and Mid Kent constituency. The remaining two-thirds of the electorate in west/central Maidstone were reunited with the town wards that had been lost to Mid Kent in 1983, and joined by a rural part of the Weald to the south of the town, previously in the Tunbridge Wells constituency.
Most of the electorate live in urban Maidstone, which has some light industry but whose economy is increasingly dominated by the service sector (eg insurance). The south of the constituency is rural with significant orchards and market gardens. Many residents commute to London.
Following their review of parliamentary representation in Kent, the Boundary Commission for England has made major changes to the existing constituency boundaries as a consequence of population changes across the county. One major change is that Tenterden will be lost to Ashford. The modified Maidstone and The Weald constituency is formed from the following electoral wards:
The MP for the seat from its creation in 1997 was Ann Widdecombe of the Conservative Party. She was previously MP for the former seat of Maidstone from 1987, and served as a Home Office minister in the government of John Major from 1995 to 1997, and as Shadow Home Secretary from 1999 to 2001. She stood down at the 2010 general election and was succeeded by Helen Grant, also of the Conservative Party.
Election | Member[2] | Party | |
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1997 | Ann Widdecombe | Conservative | |
2010 | Helen Grant | Conservative |
General Election 2010: Maidstone and the Weald [3] | |||||
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Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
Conservative | Helen Grant | 23,491 | 48.0 | -3.8 | |
Liberal Democrat | Peter Carroll | 17,602 | 36.0 | +13.8 | |
Labour | Rav Seeruthun | 4,769 | 9.7 | -12.6 | |
UKIP | Gareth Kendal | 1,637 | 3.3 | +0.3 | |
Green | Stuart Jeffery | 655 | 1.3 | +0.4 | |
National Front | Gary Butler | 643 | 1.3 | N/A | |
Christian | Heidi Simmonds | 131 | 0.3 | N/A | |
Majority | 5,889 | 12.0 | -18.5 | ||
Turnout | 48,928 | 68.9 | +3.7 | ||
Conservative hold | Swing | -8.5 |
General Election 2005: Maidstone and the Weald | |||||
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Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
Conservative | Ann Widdecombe | 25,670 | 52.7 | +3.1 | |
Labour | Beth Breeze | 10,814 | 22.2 | -4.8 | |
Liberal Democrat | Mark Corney | 10,808 | 22.2 | +2.3 | |
UKIP | Anthony 'Felix' Robertson | 1,463 | 3.0 | +0.9 | |
Majority | 14,856 | 30.5 | |||
Turnout | 48,755 | 65.8 | 4.2 | ||
Conservative hold | Swing | +3.9 |
General Election 2001: Maidstone & The Weald | |||||
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Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
Conservative | Ann Widdecombe | 22,621 | 49.6 | +5.5 | |
Labour | Mark Davis | 12,303 | 27.0 | +0.8 | |
Liberal Democrat | Allison Wainman | 9,064 | 19.9 | -2.5 | |
UKIP | John Botting | 978 | 2.1 | +1.5 | |
Independent | Neil Hunt | 611 | 1.3 | N/A | |
Majority | 10,318 | 22.6 | |||
Turnout | 45,577 | 61.6 | -12.1 | ||
Conservative hold | Swing |
General Election 1997: Maidstone and the Weald[4] | |||||
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Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
Conservative | Ann Widdecombe | 23,657 | 44.13 | ||
Labour | J Morgan | 14,054 | 26.22 | ||
Liberal Democrat | J Nelson | 11,986 | 22.36 | ||
Referendum Party | S Hopkins | 1,998 | 3.73 | ||
Socialist Labour | M Cleator | 979 | 1.83 | ||
Green | P Kemp | 480 | 0.9 | ||
UKIP | R Owen | 339 | 0.63 | ||
Natural Law | J Oldbury | 115 | 0.22 | ||
Majority | 9,603 | 17.91 | |||
Turnout | 53,605 | 73.7 |