North Shropshire (UK Parliament constituency)

North Shropshire
County constituency for the House of Commons
Boundary of North Shropshire in Shropshire.
Location of Shropshire within England.
County	Shropshire
Electorate	77,673 (December 2010)
Major settlements	Wem, Whitchurch, Ellesmere, Oswestry, and Market Drayton
Current constituency
Created	1983
Member of parliament	Owen Paterson (Conservative)
Number of members	One
Created from	Oswestry
1832–1885
Number of members	Two
Replaced by	Oswestry
Overlaps
European Parliament constituency	West Midlands

North Shropshire^{[n 1]} is a constituency^{[n 2]} represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 1997 by Owen Paterson, a Conservative.^{[n 3]}

Established for the 1832 general election, North Shropshire has been continuously held by the Conservative Party for its entire existence.^{[n 4]} However, the constituency was abolished in 1885 and re-created in 1983.

History

From its first creation in 1832 to the abolition of the first creation in 1885 it covered approximately half of the county and elected two members, formally Knights of the Shire. In 1885 the county was (together with South Shropshire) - divided between four constituencies: Ludlow, Newport, Oswestry and Wellington.

In 1983 the constituency was revived in a smaller form and elects one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first past the post system of election.

The Electoral Reform Society considers it to be historically the safest seat in the country. Taking into account the intermediary seats roughly covering its boundaries, the Society considers that the seat has been held continuously by the Conservative Party since 1835 - in political terms since the days of the Tamworth Manifesto and before Queen Victoria's accession to the throne.^[1] However the result of the 2001 election was more marginal than most Conservative seats and the 2010 election saw it just outside the top third of seats in percentage terms held by the Conservative Party, with the 103rd largest share of the vote for the party.^[2]

Owen Paterson was appointed to be the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland in May 2010 and from the September 2012 Cabinet reshuffle, Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.^[3]

Boundaries

1983-1997: The District of North Shropshire; the Borough of Oswestry; and the District of The Wrekin wards of Church Aston, Edgmond, Ercall Magna, Newport East, Newport North, and Newport West.

1997-present: The District of North Shropshire; and the Borough of Oswestry.

The constituency is co-extensive with that of the North area of Shropshire Council, which is the same as the former districts of North Shropshire and Oswestry.

The constituency is rural and is north of Shrewsbury, west of Newcastle-under-Lyme and south of Cheshire, having five small towns.

Members of Parliament

MPs 1832–1885

Constituency created in 1832

	First member^[4]	First party	Second member^[4]	Second party
1832	Sir Rowland Hill, Bt	Tory	John Cotes	Whig
1834		Conservative	John Cotes	Whig
1835		Conservative	William Ormsby-Gore	Conservative
1843 by-election	Viscount Clive	Conservative
1848 by-election	John Whitehall Dod	Conservative
1857	John Whitehall Dod	Conservative	Hon. Rowland Hill	Conservative
1859	John Ormsby-Gore	Conservative	Hon. Rowland Hill	Conservative
1865			Hon. Charles Cust	Conservative
1866 by-election			Hon. Adelbert Brownlow-Cust	Conservative
1867 by-election			Viscount Newport	Conservative
1876 by-election	Stanley Leighton	Conservative	Viscount Newport	Conservative
1885	Constituency abolished

MPs since 1983

Election		Member^[4]	Party
	1983	John Biffen	Conservative
	1997	Owen Paterson	Conservative

Elections

Elections in the 2010s

General Election 2015: North Shropshire^[5]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	UKIP	Andrea Allen^[6]
	Labour	Graeme Currie
	Green	Duncan Kerr^[7]
	Conservative	Owen Paterson
	Liberal Democrat	Tom Thornhill

Class War originally selected Al Derby as a candidate here, but he changed to Wolverhamptom North East.^[8]

General Election 2010: North Shropshire^[9]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Owen Paterson	26,692	51.5	+1.9
	Liberal Democrat	Ian Croll	10,864	20.9	+1.2
	Labour	Ian McLaughlan	9,406	18.1	-7.8
	UKIP	Sandra List	2,432	4.7	-0.1
	BNP	Phil Reddall	1,667	3.2	+3.2
	Green	Steve Boulding	808	1.6	+1.6
Majority			15,828	30.5
Turnout			51,869	65.7	+2.4
	Conservative hold		Swing	+0.3

Elections in the 2000s

General Election 2005: North Shropshire
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Owen Paterson	23,061	49.6	+1.0
	Labour	Sandra Samuels	12,041	25.9	−9.3
	Liberal Democrat	Steve Bourne	9,175	19.7	+6.9
	UKIP	Ian Smith	2,233	4.8	+2.3
Majority			11,020	23.7
Turnout			46,510	61.4	−1.7
	Conservative hold		Swing	+5.1

General Election 2001: North Shropshire
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Owen Paterson	22,631	48.6	+8.4
	Labour	Mike Ion	16,390	35.2	-0.8
	Liberal Democrat	Ben Jephcott	5,945	12.8	-7.6
	UKIP	David Trevanion	1,165	2.5
	Independent	Russell Maxfield	389	0.8
Majority			6,241	13.4
Turnout			46,520	63.1	-9.5

Elections in the 1990s

General Election 1997: Shropshire North
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Owen Paterson	20,730	40.24
	Labour	Ian Lucas	18,535	35.98
	Liberal Democrat	J Stevens	10,489	20.36
	Referendum Party	D Allen	1,764	3.42
Majority			2,195	4.26
Turnout				72.59
	Conservative hold		Swing

General Election 1992: Shropshire North^[10]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	John Biffen	32,443	50.5	−1.7
	Liberal Democrat	HJ Stevens	16,232	25.3	−2.2
	Labour	RJ Hawkins	15,550	24.2	+3.8
Majority			16,211	25.2	+0.5
Turnout			64,225	77.7	+2.2
	Conservative hold		Swing	+0.2

Elections in the 1980s

General Election 1987: Shropshire North
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	John Biffen	30,385	52.19
	Liberal	G Smith	15,970	27.43
	Labour	R Hawkins	11,866	20.38
Majority			14,415	24.76
Turnout				75.49
	Conservative hold		Swing

General Election 1983: Shropshire North
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	John Biffen	28,496	53.44
	Liberal	D Evans	16,829	31.56
	Labour	Helen Jones	7,860	14.74
	Independent For Referendum	JL Phillimore	135	0.25
Majority			11,667	21.88
Turnout				72.71
	Conservative hold		Swing

Notes and references

Notes

↑ (Historically also Shropshire North and The Northern Division of Shropshire)
↑ 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.
↑ From 1832 to 1835, during the period in which the constituency had two representatives in the House of Commons, one was a Whig (a precursor to the Liberal Democrats), and the other a Conservative (officially known as a Tory until 1834).

References

Sources

UK Polling Report
Craig, F. W. S. (1989) [1977]. British parliamentary election results 1832–1885 (2nd ed.). Chichester: Parliamentary Research Services. pp. 446–447. ISBN 0-900178-26-4.

Constituencies in the West Midlands (59)

Conservative (33)	Aldridge-Brownhills Bromsgrove Burton Cannock Chase Dudley South Halesowen and Rowley Regis Hereford and South Herefordshire Kenilworth and Southam Lichfield Ludlow Meriden Mid Worcestershire North Herefordshire North Shropshire North Warwickshire Nuneaton Redditch Rugby Shrewsbury and Atcham South Staffordshire Stafford Staffordshire Moorlands Stone Stourbridge Stratford-on-Avon Sutton Coldfield Tamworth The Wrekin Warwick and Leamington West Worcestershire Wolverhampton South West Worcester Wyre Forest

Labour (24)	Birmingham, Edgbaston Birmingham, Erdington Birmingham, Hall Green Birmingham, Hodge Hill Birmingham, Ladywood Birmingham, Northfield Birmingham, Perry Barr Birmingham, Selly Oak Coventry North East Coventry North West Coventry South Dudley North Newcastle-under-Lyme Stoke-on-Trent Central Stoke-on-Trent North Stoke-on-Trent South Telford Walsall North Walsall South Warley West Bromwich East West Bromwich West Wolverhampton North East Wolverhampton South East

Liberal Democrats (2)	Birmingham, Yardley Solihull

West Midlands European constituency: Conservative (2) Labour (2) UKIP (3)