The Cotswolds (UK Parliament constituency)

The Cotswolds
County constituency
for the House of Commons

Outline map

Boundary of The Cotswolds in Gloucestershire for the 2010 general election.

Outline map

Location of Gloucestershire within England.
County Gloucestershire
Electorate 78,439 (December 2010)[1]
Current constituency
Created 1997
Member of parliament Geoffrey Clifton-Brown (Conservative)
Number of members One
Created from Cirencester and Tewkesbury
Overlaps
European Parliament constituency South West England

The Cotswolds is a constituency[n 1] represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since its 1997 creation by Geoffrey Clifton-Brown, a Conservative.[n 2]

Boundaries

The constituency was created in 1997 as Cotswold, mostly from the former seat of Cirencester and Tewkesbury.

Following their review of parliamentary representation in Gloucestershire which reported in 2007, the Boundary Commission for England gained three wards from Stroud District and changed the name to The Cotswolds to reflect the local district name, as such the seat has electoral wards:

Constituency profile

The Cotswolds is a safe Conservative seat in an area of natural beauty and heritage, with its market towns constructed of rare cream-to-yellow Cotswold stone. The area is welcoming to tourists and tourism has overtaken agriculture as the largest single employer in the area.

The largest town in the constituency is Cirencester, a compact traditional town. Other settlements include Andoversford, Bourton-on-the-Water, Chipping Campden, Fairford, Lechlade, Moreton-in-Marsh, Northleach, Stow-on-the-Wold, Tetbury (and the neighbouring village of Doughton, location of Highgrove, the Prince of Wales's estate), and Wotton-under-Edge.

The seat has the highest number of listed buildings of any constituency in Britain. It also contains eight of the 20 most popular attractions in Gloucestershire, including Westonbirt Arboretum, Hidcote Manor, and Chedworth Roman Villa.

Workless claimants, registered jobseekers, were in November 2012 significantly lower than the national average of 3.8%, at 1.6% of the population based on a statistical compilation by The Guardian.[2]

Members of Parliament

ElectionMember[3] Party
1997 Geoffrey Clifton-Brown Conservative 1992-1997: represented Cirencester and Tewkesbury.

Elections

Elections in the 2010s

General Election 2015: The Cotswolds [4]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Green Penny Burgess
Conservative Geoffrey Clifton-Brown
Liberal Democrat Paul Hodgkinson [5]
UKIP Chris Harlow
Labour Manjinder Kang
General Election 2010: The Cotswolds[6]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Geoffrey Clifton-Brown 29,075 53.0 +3.7
Liberal Democrat Mike Collins 16,211 29.6 +1.5
Labour Mark Dempsey 5,886 10.7 −7.9
UKIP Adrian Blake 2,292 4.2 +1.0
Green Kevin Lister 940 1.7 N/A
Independent Alex Steel 428 0.8 N/A
Majority 12,864 23.5 +2.2
Turnout 54,832 71.5 +4.2
Conservative hold Swing +1.1

Elections in the 2000s

General Election 2005: Cotswold
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Geoffrey Clifton-Brown 23,326 49.3 -1.0
Liberal Democrat Philip Beckerlegge 13,638 28.8 +4.6
Labour Mark Dempsey 8,457 17.9 −4.7
UKIP Richard Buckley 1,538 3.2 +0.3
Independent James Derieg 392 0.8 N/A
Majority 9,688 20.5
Turnout 47,351 66.7 −0.8
Conservative hold Swing −2.8
General Election 2001: Cotswold
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Geoffrey Clifton-Brown 23,133 50.3 +4.0
Liberal Democrat Angela Lawrence 11,150 24.2 +1.3
Labour Richard Wilkins 10,383 22.6 -0.1
UKIP Jill Stopps 1,315 2.9 N/A
Majority 11,983 26.1
Turnout 45,981 67.5 -8.2
Conservative hold Swing

Elections in the 1990s

General Election 1997: Cotswold
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Geoffrey Clifton-Brown 23,698 46.4 N/A
Liberal Democrat David Gayler 11,733 22.9 N/A
Labour David Elwell 11,608 22.7 N/A
Referendum Party Rupert Lowe 3,393 6.6 N/A
Green V. Michael 560 1.1 N/A
Natural Law H. Brighouse 129 0.3 N/A
Majority 11,965 N/A
Turnout 75.9 N/A
Conservative hold Swing N/A

See also

Notes and references

Notes
  1. ↑ A county constituency (for the purposes of election expenses and type of returning officer)
  2. ↑ 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
  1. ↑ "Electorate Figures - Boundary Commission for England". 2011 Electorate Figures. Boundary Commission for England. 4 March 2011. Retrieved 13 March 2011.
  2. ↑ Unemployment claimants by constituency The Guardian
  3. ↑ Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "C" (part 6)
  4. ↑ http://ukpollingreport.co.uk/2015guide/cotswoldsthe/
  5. ↑ http://electionresults.blogspot.co.uk/2013/04/cotswolds-2015.html
  6. ↑ BBC - Election 2010 - Cotswolds, The