Mid Sussex (UK Parliament constituency)

Mid Sussex
County constituency
for the House of Commons
Boundary of Mid Sussex in West Sussex.
Location of West Sussex within England.
County	West Sussex
Electorate	77,044 (December 2010)[1]
Current constituency
Created	1974 (1974)
Member of Parliament	Nicholas Soames (Conservative)
Number of members	One
Created from	East Grinstead and Lewes
Overlaps
European Parliament constituency	South East England

Mid Sussex is a parliamentary 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 current MP is Nicholas Soames of the Conservative Party, first elected for the constituency at the 1997 general election.

Contents 1 Boundaries 1.1 Boundary review 2 History 3 Members of Parliament 4 Elections 4.1 Elections in the 2010s 4.2 Elections in the 2000s 4.3 Elections in the 1990s 4.4 Elections in the 1980s 4.5 Elections in the 1970s 5 See also 6 Notes and references 7 Sources

Boundaries

The constituency is located in the north east of West Sussex, bordering with East Sussex. It contains the towns of East Grinstead, Haywards Heath and Burgess Hill.

Boundary review

Following their review of parliamentary boundaries in West Sussex, the Boundary Commission for England has made alterations to all existing constituencies to deal with population changes. The modified Mid Sussex constituency is created with the following electoral wards:

• Ashurst Wood, Bolney, Burgess Hill, Cuckfield, East Grinstead, Haywards Heath , High Weald, and Lindfield.

History

The constituency was created in 1974 from parts of the seats of Lewes & East Grinstead, and has undergone significant boundary changes at every periodical review that it has been around for. Prior to 1983, the constituency had actually been a part of East Sussex, but as a result of the Local Government Act 1972, it was largely moved into West Sussex.

At the 1983 general election, it gained some of the wards previously contained in East Grinstead, and at the 1997 election, it gained many of the rural wards between East Grinstead and Crawley.

Members of Parliament

Election		Member [2]	Party
	Feb 1974	Tim Renton	Conservative
	1997	Nicholas Soames	Conservative

Elections

Elections in the 2010s

General Election 2010: Mid Sussex [3][4][5]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Nicholas Soames	28,329	50.7	+2.5
	Liberal Democrat	Serena Tierney	20,927	37.5	+1.8
	Labour	David Boot	3,689	6.6	-6.2
	UKIP	Marc Montgomery	1,423	2.5	-0.7
	Green	Paul Brown	645	1.2	+1.2
	BNP	Stuart Minihane	583	1.0	+1.0
	Monster Raving Loony	Baron von Thunderclap	259	0.5	+0.5
Majority			7, 402	13.3
Turnout			55,855	72.4	+3.5
	Conservative hold		Swing	+0.3

Elections in the 2000s

General Election 2005: Mid Sussex
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Nicholas Soames	23,765	48.0	+1.8
	Liberal Democrat	Serena Tierney	17,875	36.1	+5.0
	Labour	Robert Fromant	6,280	12.7	-6.3
	UKIP	Harold Piggott	1,574	3.2	+0.7
Majority			5,890	11.9
Turnout			49,494	68.6	3.7
	Conservative hold		Swing	-1.6

General Election 2001: Mid Sussex
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Nicholas Soames	21,150	46.2	+2.7
	Liberal Democrat	Lesley Wilkins	14,252	31.1	+0.5
	Labour	Paul Mitchell	8,693	19.0	+0.3
	UKIP	Petrina Holdsworth	1,126	2.5	+1.3
	Monster Raving Loony	Baron Von Thunderclap Berry	601	1.3	N/A
Majority			6,898	15.1
Turnout			45,822	64.9	-12.7
	Conservative hold		Swing

Elections in the 1990s

General Election 1997: Mid Sussex
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Nicholas Soames	23,231	43.5	-15.5
	Liberal Democrat	Margaret Collins	16,377	30.6	+2.4
	Labour	Mervyn Hamilton	9,969	18.6	+8.0
	Referendum Party	Tam Large	3,146	5.9	N/A
	UKIP	J V Barnett	606	1.1	N/A
	Independent	Ernest Tudway	134	0.3	N/A
Majority			6,854	12.8
Turnout			53,463	77.6
	Conservative hold		Swing

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 1992: Mid Sussex[6]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Timothy Renton	39,524	59.0	-2.1
	Liberal Democrat	Margaret Collins	18,996	28.4	-3.1
	Labour	L C Gregory	6,951	10.4	+3.0
	Green	H G Stevens	772	1.1	N/A
	Monster Raving Loony	P B Berry	392	0.6	N/A
	Independent	P D Hodkin	246	0.4	N/A
	Natural Law	Dr A M A Hankey	89	0.1	N/A
Majority			20,528	30.6	+1.0
Turnout			66,970	82.9
	Conservative hold		Swing	+5.7

Elections in the 1980s

General Election 1987: Mid Sussex
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Timothy Renton	37,781	61.1	-0.3
	Liberal	N S E Westbrook	19,489	31.5	-0.8
	Labour	R S E Hughes	4,573	7.4	+1.4
Majority			18,292	29.6
Turnout			61,843	77.2	+2.5
	Conservative hold		Swing

General Election 1983: Mid Sussex
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Timothy Renton	35,310	61.4
	Liberal	J M Campbell	18,566	32.3
	Labour	P A Hawkes	3,470	6.0
	Independent	J Bray	196	0.3
Majority			16,744	29.1
Turnout			57,542	74.7
	Conservative hold		Swing

This constituency underwent boundary changes between the 1979 and 1983 general elections and thus calculation of the change in share of vote is not possible.

Elections in the 1970s

General Election 1979: Mid Sussex
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Timothy Renton	32,548	61.2
	Liberal	J M Campbell	11,705	22.0
	Labour	Des Turner	8,260	15.5
	Independent Conservative	S M H Haslett	697	1.3
Majority			20,843	39.2
Turnout			53,210	78.0
	Conservative hold		Swing

General Election October 1974: Mid Sussex
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Timothy Renton	25,126	53.9
	Liberal	R A Symes-Schutzman	13,129	28.1
	Labour	M R Fraser	8,404	18.0
Majority			11,997	25.7
Turnout			46,659	76.4
	Conservative hold		Swing

General Election February 1974: Mid Sussex
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Timothy Renton	27,317	54.1
	Liberal	R A Symes-Schutzman	15,162	30.0
	Labour	M R Fraser	7,993	15.8
Majority			12,155	24.1
Turnout			50,472	83.3
	Conservative hold		Swing

See also

• List of Parliamentary constituencies in West Sussex

Notes and references

Sources

• Election result, 2005 (BBC)
• Election results, 1997 - 2001 (BBC)
• Election results, 1997 - 2001 (Election Demon)
• Election results, 1983 - 1997 (Election Demon)
• Election results, 1992 - 2005 (Guardian)
• Election results, 1974 - 2001 (Keele University)

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