Cornwall and Plymouth (European Parliament constituency)

Cornwall and Plymouth
European Parliament constituency

Member state United Kingdom
Created 1979
Dissolved 1994
MEPs 1
Sources

Cornwall and Plymouth was a European Parliament constituency covering Cornwall and Plymouth in England.

Prior to its uniform adoption of proportional representation in 1999, the United Kingdom used first-past-the-post for the European elections in England, Scotland and Wales. The European Parliament constituencies used under that system were smaller than the later regional constituencies and only had one Member of the European Parliament each.

When it was created in England in 1979, it consisted of the Westminster Parliament constituencies of Bodmin, Falmouth and Camborne, North Cornwall, Plymouth Devonport, Plymouth Drake, Plymouth Sutton, St Ives and Truro. In 1984, Bodmin was replaced by South East Cornwall.[1]

The constituency was replaced by Cornwall and West Plymouth and a small part of Devon and East Plymouth in 1994, and these seats became part of the much larger South West England constituency in 1999.

Members of the European Parliament

Elected Name Party
1979 David Harris Conservative
1984 Christopher Beazley Conservative

Results

European Parliament election, 1979: Cornwall and Plymouth[2]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative David Harris 94,650 55.1 N/A
Labour D. Leather 36,681 21.4 N/A
Liberal G. H. T. Spring 23,105 13.5 N/A
Mebyon Kernow Richard Jenkin 10,205 5.9 N/A
Ecology Edward Goldsmith 5,125 3.0 N/A
United Against the Common Market A. E. M. Ash 1,834 1.1 N/A
Majority 57,969 33.7 N/A
Turnout 35.0 N/A
Conservative win (new seat)
European Parliament election, 1984: Cornwall and Plymouth[2]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Christopher Beazley 81,627 42.5 -12.6
Social Democratic Jonathan Marks 63,876 33.3 +19.8
Labour John Cosgrove 35,952 18.7 -2.7
Independent Anthony Parkyn 5,645 2.9 N/A
Independent Liberal Robin Trevallion 2,981 1.6 N/A
Cornish Nationalist James Whetter 1,892 1.0 N/A
Majority 17,751 9.2 -24.5
Turnout 37.9 +2.9
Conservative hold Swing
European Parliament election, 1989: Cornwall and Plymouth[2]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Christopher Beazley 88,376 38.9 -3.6
Social and Liberal Democrats Paul Tyler 68,559 30.2 -3.1
Labour Dorothy Kirk 41,446 18.3 -0.4
Green Howard Hoptrough 24,581 10.8 N/A
Mebyon Kernow Colin Lawry 4,224 1.9 N/A
Majority 19,817 8.7 -0.5
Turnout 41.9 +4.0
Conservative hold Swing

Mebyon Kernow

In 2009 Cornish party Mebyon Kernow is campaigning for a dedicated Euro-constituency and MEP for Cornwall. Leader Dick Cole said, "This European election represents a huge democratic deficit for the people of Cornwall. Our distinct needs are ignored in the massive South West constituency and we have been poorly served by MEPs not resident in Cornwall. We consider it a nonsense that the European parliamentary constituency stretches from the Isles of Scilly to Bristol via Gibraltar. We hope voters will support our campaign for proper Cornish representation in Europe including a European Parliamentary constituency for Cornwall."[3]

References

  1. ↑ "David Boothroyd's United Kingdom Election Results". Retrieved 20 January 2008.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 United Kingdom European Parliamentary Election results 1979-99: England: Part 1
  3. ↑ Mebyon Kernow campaigns for Cornwall only MEP

External links