West Dorset (UK Parliament constituency)

West Dorset
County constituency
for the House of Commons
Boundary of West Dorset in Dorset.
Location of Dorset within England.
County	Dorset
Electorate	76,779 (December 2010)^[1]
Current constituency
Created	1885 (1885)
Member of Parliament	Oliver Letwin (Conservative)
Number of members	One
Overlaps
European Parliament constituency	South West England

West Dorset is a county constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, which covers almost the same geographical area as the West Dorset district. In the 2005 general election it had the highest turnout of any UK constituency. The current MP is Oliver Letwin of the Conservative Party, first elected at the 1997 general election.

Boundaries

The West Dorset constituency covers most of the West Dorset administrative district of Dorset County Council and includes the towns of Dorchester, the county town of Dorset; Bridport, Lyme Regis and Beaminster to the west and Sherborne to the north. The constituency is mainly rural and its coastline forms part of the Jurassic Coast, which is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

General Election 2010: West Dorset
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Oliver Letwin	27,287	47.6	+1.1
	Liberal Democrat	Sue Farrant	23,364	40.7	-1.2
	Labour	Steve Bick	3,815	6.7	-1.1
	UKIP	Oliver Chisholm	2,196	3.8	+1.8
	Green	Susan Greene	675	1.2	-0.6
Majority			3,923	6.8
Turnout			57,337	74.6	-1.8
	Conservative hold		Swing	+1.1

General Election 2005: West Dorset
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Oliver Letwin	24,763	46.5	+1.9
	Liberal Democrat	Justine McGuinness	22,302	41.9	+0.1
	Labour	Dave Roberts	4,124	7.7	−5.9
	UKIP	Linda Guest	1,084	2.0	N/A
	Green	Susan Greene	952	1.8	N/A
Majority			2,461	4.6
Turnout			53,225	76.3	+6.8
	Conservative hold		Swing	+0.9

General Election 2001: West Dorset
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Oliver Letwin	22,126	44.6	+3.5
	Liberal Democrat	Simon Green	20,712	41.8	+4.1
	Labour	Richard Hyde	6,733	13.6	-4.1
Majority			1,414	2.8
Turnout			49,571	69.5	-6.6
	Conservative hold		Swing

General Election 1997: West Dorset
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Oliver Letwin	22,036	41.1
	Liberal Democrat	Robin Legg	20,196	37.7
	Labour	Robert Bygraves	9,491	17.7
	UKIP	P. Jenkins	1,590	3.0
	Natural Law	M. Griffiths	239	0.4
Majority			1,840
Turnout				76.1
	Conservative hold		Swing

General Election 1992: Dorset West^[3]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Sir Jim Spicer	27,766	50.8	−5.3
	Liberal Democrat	RAS Legg	19,756	36.2	+4.5
	Labour	JPB Mann	7,082	13.0	+0.8
Majority			8,010	14.7	−9.9
Turnout			54,604	81.2	+2.9
	Conservative hold		Swing	−4.9

Constituencies in South West England (55)

Conservative (36)	Bournemouth East Bournemouth West Bridgwater and West Somerset Bristol North West Camborne and Redruth Central Devon Christchurch Devizes East Devon Filton and Bradley Stoke Forest of Dean Gloucester Kingswood Newton Abbot North Dorset North East Somerset North Somerset North Swindon North Wiltshire Plymouth Sutton and Devonport Poole Salisbury South Dorset South East Cornwall South Swindon South West Devon South West Wiltshire Stroud Tewkesbury The Cotswolds Tiverton and Honiton Torridge and West Devon Totnes Truro and Falmouth West Dorset Weston-super-Mare

Liberal Democrats (15)	Bath Bristol West Cheltenham Chippenham Mid Dorset and North Poole North Cornwall North Devon St Austell and Newquay St Ives Somerton and Frome Taunton Deane Thornbury and Yate Torbay Wells Yeovil

Labour (4)	Bristol East Bristol South Exeter Plymouth Moor View

South West England European constituency: Conservative (3) UKIP (2) Liberal Democrats (1)