Hertford and Stortford (UK Parliament constituency)

Hertford and Stortford
County constituency for the House of Commons
Boundary of Hertford and Stortford in Hertfordshire.
Location of Hertfordshire within England.
County	Hertfordshire
Electorate	79,255 (December 2010)^[1]
Major settlements	Hertford, Bishop's Stortford, Ware
Current constituency
Created	1983
Member of parliament	Mark Prisk (Conservative)
Number of members	One
Overlaps
European Parliament constituency	East of England

Hertford and Stortford is a constituency^{[n 1]} represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament by Mark Prisk of the Conservative Party.^{[n 2]}

Boundaries

Following their review of parliamentary representation in Hertfordshire the Boundary Commission for England consultation and changed modified the Hertford and Stortford seat for the 2010 general election. The electoral wards are included in the district of East Hertfordshire:

Bishop’s Stortford All Saints, Bishop’s Stortford Central, Bishop’s Stortford Meads, Bishop’s Stortford Silverleys, Bishop’s Stortford South, Great Amwell, Hertford Bengeo, Hertford Castle, Hertford Heath, Hertford Kingsmead, Hertford Sele, Hunsdon, Much Hadham, Sawbridgeworth, Stanstead Abbotts, Ware Chadwell, Ware Christchurch, Ware St Mary’s and Ware Trinity.

Description

The constituency is semi-rural which includes picturesque villages and farmland separating the county town of Hertford, population 25,000, which is architecturally rich.^[2] The rivers Rib, Beane, Mimram, and Lea all meet in Hertford, which is protected from over development by Green Belt land which encircles the town separating it from its neighbour Ware (17,000) in the western part of the constituency. Farms continue between Ware and the ancient market town of Bishop's Stortford with a population of more than 32,000 people in the north east corner of the seat. Bishop's Stortford has developed into a popular area for commuters, with rail links to London's Liverpool Street station. Thorley on the south side of Stortford, contains a huge residential estate of owner occupied houses built mainly in the 1980s. The constituency is affluent, having a majority of professional and managerial workers as it is within commuting distance of London. Stansted Airport, which lies just outside the seat's eastern perimeter has been responsible for bringing jobs and an improved train service to the constituency. The pharmaceutical industry is also an important provider of jobs - GlaxoSmithKline has facilities in Ware and nearby Harlow, and Merck is based at Gilston on the seat's southern border. London is within commuting distance with trains to the City running from all the towns in the constituency.

Members of Parliament

Election		Member^[3]	Party
	1983	Bowen Wells	Conservative
	2001	Mark Prisk	Conservative

Elections

Elections in the 2010s

General Election 2015: Hertford and Stortford^[4]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	UKIP	Adrian Baker^[5]
	Labour	Katherine Chibah^[5]
	Green	Sophie Christophy^[6]
	Liberal Democrat	Michael Green^[7]
	Conservative	Mark Prisk^[8]

General Election 2010: Hertford and Stortford^[9]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Mark Prisk	29,810	53.8	+3.6
	Liberal Democrat	Andrew Lewin	14,373	26.0	+7.5
	Labour	Stephen Terry	7,620	13.8	-10.5
	UKIP	David Sodey	1,716	3.1	+1.0
	BNP	Roy Harris	1,297	2.3	N/A
	Independent	Loucas Xenophontos	325	0.6	N/A
	Independent	Martin Adams	236	0.4	N/A
Majority			15,437	27.9
Turnout			55,377	70.6	+4.1
	Conservative hold		Swing	-1.9

Elections in the 2000s

General Election 2005: Hertford and Stortford
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Mark Prisk	25,074	50.5	+5.8
	Labour	Richard Henry	11,977	24.1	−8.7
	Liberal Democrat	James Lucas	9,129	18.4	−1.5
	Green	Peter Hart	1,914	3.9	N/A
	UKIP	David Sodey	1,026	2.1	−0.5
	Veritas	Debbie Le May	572	1.2	N/A
Majority			13,097	26.4
Turnout			49,692	67.7	+5.5
	Conservative hold		Swing	+7.2

General Election 2001: Hertford and Stortford
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Mark Prisk	21,074	44.7	+0.6
	Labour	Simon Spellar	15,471	32.8	+1.4
	Liberal Democrat	Mione Goldspink	9,388	19.9	+2.2
	UKIP	Stuart Rising	1,243	2.6	+0.4
Majority			5,603	11.9
Turnout			47,176	62.2	-13.3
	Conservative hold		Swing

Elections in the 1990s

General Election 1997: Hertford and Stortford
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Bowen Wells	24,027	44.1
	Labour	Simon Spellar	17,142	31.4
	Liberal Democrat	Michael Wood	9,679	17.7
	Referendum Party	Hugo Page Croft	2,105	3.9
	UKIP	B G Smalley	1,233	2.2
	ProLife Alliance	Michael Franey	259	0.5
Majority			6,885	12.6
Turnout			54,571	75.5
	Conservative hold		Swing

General Election 1992: Hertford and Stortford^[10]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Bowen Wells	35,716	57.5	−.0
	Liberal Democrat	CJ White	15,506	25.0	−3.4
	Labour	AJ Bovaird	10,125	16.3	+3.5
	Green	JA Goth	780	1.3	−0.1
Majority			20,210	32.5	+3.3
Turnout			62,127	81.0	+3.3
	Conservative hold		Swing	+1.7

Elections in the 1980s

General Election 1987: Hertford and Stortford
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Bowen Wells	33,763	57.52
	Social Democratic	RE Wotherspoon	16,623	28.32
	Labour	PRE Sumner	7,494	12.77
	Green	GC Cole	814	1.39
Majority			17,140	29.20
Turnout				77.73
	Conservative hold		Swing

General Election 1983: Hertford and Stortford
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Bowen Wells	29,039	55.98
	Social Democratic	R Wotherspoon	16,110	31.05
	Labour	J Carr	6,203	11.96
	BNP	G Wiles	304	0.59
	Prosperity For All	P Cullen	221	0.43
Majority			12,929	24.92
Turnout				75.61
	Conservative hold		Swing

Notes and references

Notes

↑ A county constituency (for the purposes of election expenses and type of returning officer)
↑ As with all constituencies, the constituency elects one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first past the post system of election at least every five years.

References

↑ "Electorate Figures - Boundary Commission for England". 2011 Electorate Figures. Boundary Commission for England. 4 March 2011. Retrieved 13 March 2011.
↑ Ordnance Survey map, courtesy of English Heritage
↑ Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "H" (part 3)
↑ http://ukpollingreport.co.uk/2015guide/hertfordandstortford/
↑ 5.0 5.1 http://electionresults.blogspot.co.uk/2013/04/hertford-stortford-2015.html
↑ "Hertford and Stortford". YourNextMP. Retrieved 22 February 2015.
↑ "List of selected candidates". Liberal Democrats. 4 March 2015. Retrieved 17 March 2015.
↑ "Hertford and Stortford". YourNextMP. Retrieved 2 March 2015.
↑ http://80.168.51.108/media/pdf/g/1/Statement_plus_Notice_of_Poll.pdf
↑ "UK General Election results April 1992". Richard Kimber's Political Science Resources. Politics Resources. 9 April 1992. Retrieved 2010-12-06.

Constituencies in the East of England (58)

Conservative (51)	Basildon and Billericay Bedford Braintree Brentwood and Ongar Broadland Broxbourne Bury St Edmunds Castle Point Central Suffolk and North Ipswich Chelmsford 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

UKIP (1)	Clacton

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

Coordinates: 51°49′N 0°01′E / 51.817°N 0.017°E / 51.817; 0.017