North Somerset (UK Parliament constituency)

North Somerset
County constituency for the House of Commons
North Somerset in Somerset
Location of Somerset within England.
County	Somerset
Electorate	78,223 (December 2010)^[1]
Major settlements	Clevedon, Nailsea and Portishead
Current constituency
Created	2010
Member of parliament	Liam Fox (Conservative)
Number of members	One
Created from	Woodspring
1950–1983
Replaced by	Woodspring
Created from	Frome
1885–1918
Overlaps
European Parliament constituency	South West England

North Somerset is a constituency^{[n 1]} represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2010 by Liam Fox, a Conservative.^{[n 2]}

History

Earlier versions of the seat existed between 1885–1918 and 1950–1983.

First creation

Parliament passed the Redistribution of Seats Act 1885 creating the larger constituency of North Somerset from the 1885 general election, which was later abolished for the 1918 general election.

Second creation

North Somerset was re-established for the 1950 general election, and abolished again for the 1983 general election.

The seat is currently represented by Liam Fox, former Secretary of State for Defence.

Third creation

Following the review of parliamentary representation in the North Somerset district by the Boundary Commission for England, the former Woodspring constituency has been renamed as North Somerset without substantial boundary changes from its predecessor.^[2]

Boundaries

1885-1918: The Sessional Divisions of Keynsham, Long Ashton, and Temple Cloud, and the civil parishes of Binegar, Chilcompton, and Midsomer Norton.

1950-1974: The Urban Districts of Keynsham, Norton Radstock, and Portishead, the Rural Districts of Bathavon (the civil parishes of Bathampton, Batheaston, Bathford, Camerton, Charlcombe, Claverton, Combe Hay, Compton Dando, Corston, Dunkerton, English Combe, Freshford, Hinton Charterhouse, Kelston, Marksbury, Monkton Combe, Newton St Loe, North Stoke, Priston, South Stoke, St Catherine, Swainswick, Wellow, Weston, and Whitchurch) and Clutton (the civil parishes of Cameley, Chelwood, Chew Magna, Chew Stoke, Chilcompton, Clutton, Compton Martin, East Harptree, Farmborough, Farrington Gurney, High Littleton, Hinton Blewett, Litton, Nempnett Thrubwell, Norton Malreward, Paulton, Publow, Stanton Drew, Ston Easton, Stowey, St Thomas in Pensford, Timsbury, Ubley, and West Harptree), and in the Rural District of Long Ashton the civil parishes of Abbots Leigh, Backwell, Barrow Gurney, Bishopsworth, Brockley, Clapton-in-Gordano, Dundry, Easton-in-Gordano, Flax Bourton, Long Ashton, Nailsea, North Weston, Portbury, Tickenham, Walton-in-Gordano, Weston-in-Gordano, Winford, and Wraxall.

1974-1983: The Urban Districts of Keynsham, Norton Radstock, and Portishead, the Rural Districts of Bathavon (the civil parishes of Bathampton, Batheaston, Bathford, Camerton, Charlcombe, Claverton, Combe Hay, Compton Dando, Corston, Dunkerton, English Combe, Freshford, Hinton Charterhouse, Kelston, Marksbury, Monkton Combe, Newton St Loe, North Stoke, Peasedown St John, Priston, Shoscombe, South Stoke, St Catherine, Swainswick, Wellow, Weston, and Whitchurch) and Clutton, and in the Rural District of Long Ashton the civil parishes of Abbots Leigh, Backwell, Barrow Gurney, Brockley, Clapton-in-Gordano, Dundry, Easton-in-Gordano, Flax Bourton, Long Ashton, Nailsea, North Weston, Portbury, Tickenham, Walton-in-Gordano, Weston-in-Gordano, Winford, and Wraxall.

2010-present: The District of North Somerset wards of Backwell, Clevedon Central, Clevedon East, Clevedon North, Clevedon South, Clevedon Walton, Clevedon West, Clevedon Yeo, Easton-in-Gordano, Gordano, Nailsea East, Nailsea North and West, Pill, Portishead Central, Portishead Coast, Portishead East, Portishead Redcliffe Bay, Portishead South and North Weston, Portishead West, Winford, Wraxall and Long Ashton, Wrington, and Yatton.

Constituency profile

This is essentially the old Woodspring seat with a new name. A coastal strip between the Severn Estuary and the M5 motorway includes the towns of Clevedon and Portishead, while inland from the motorway is the town of Nailsea and a predominantly rural area dotted with villages. This is a fairly affluent constituency with average incomes and low proportion of unemployment claimants^[3] — about a third of the population commute to work, mostly in Bristol and Bath.^[4] The old seat returned Conservative MPs; Fox won the new constituency by nearly 15 percentage points over the Liberal Democrats in 2010.

Members of Parliament

MPs 1885–1918

	Member	Party
1885	Evan Henry Llewellyn	Conservative
1892	Courtenay Warner	Liberal
1895	Evan Henry Llewellyn	Conservative
1906	William Henry Bateman Hope	Liberal
January 1910	Joseph King	Liberal
1918	constituency abolished

MPs 1950–1983

Election		Member	Party
1950		constituency recreated
	1950	Sir Ted Leather	Conservative
	1964	Paul Dean	Conservative
	1983	constituency abolished: see Woodspring

MPs since 2010

Election		Member^[5]	Party
	2010	Liam Fox	Conservative

Elections

Elections in the 2010s

General Election 2015: North Somerset^[6]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Liam Fox	31,540	53.5	+4.2
	Labour	Greg Chambers	8,441	14.3	+3.2
	UKIP	Ian Kealey^[7]	7,669	13.0	+9.1
	Liberal Democrat	Marcus Kravis	7,486	12.7	-23.0
	Green	David Derbyshire	3,806	6.5	+6.5
Majority			23,099	39.2
Turnout			58,942	73.6

General Election 2010: North Somerset^[8]^[9]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Liam Fox	28,549	49.3	+7.5
	Liberal Democrat	Brian Mathew	20,687	35.7	+5.5
	Labour	Steve Parry-Hearn	6,448	11.1	-10.6
	UKIP	Sue Taylor	2,257	3.9	+1.4
Majority			7,862	13.6
Turnout			57,941	75.0	+3.2
	Conservative hold		Swing	+1.0

Elections in the 1970s

General Election 1979: North Somerset
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Arthur Paul Dean	43,173	54.34
	Labour	AJ Smith	22,122	27.84
	Liberal	D Sanders	12,898	16.23
	Ecology	R Carder	1,254	1.58
Majority			21,051	26.50
Turnout				82.24
	Conservative hold		Swing

General Election October 1974: North Somerset
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Arthur Paul Dean	32,146	44.88
	Labour	HR White	22,671	31.65
	Liberal	JM Bourne	16,428	22.93
	United Democratic	JK Polling	387	0.54
Majority			9,475	13.23
Turnout				80.43
	Conservative hold		Swing

General Election February 1974: North Somerset
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Arthur Paul Dean	34,576	46.09
	Labour	HR White	22,421	29.89
	Liberal	JM Bourne	18,023	24.02
Majority			12,155	16.20
Turnout				85.06
	Conservative hold		Swing

General Election 1970 Electorate 84,866
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Arthur Paul Dean	38,975	58.1
	Labour	John T Mitchard	28,121	41.9
Majority			10,854	16.2
Turnout			67,096	79.1
	Conservative hold		Swing

Elections in the 1960s

General Election 1966 Electorate 72,803
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Arthur Paul Dean	28,824	46.4
	Labour	Brian Tilley	26,526	42.7
	Liberal	Mark E Willies	6,745	10.9
Majority			2,298	3.7
Turnout			62,095	85.3
	Conservative hold		Swing

General Election 1964 Electorate 70,186
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Arthur Paul Dean	27,814	46.4
	Labour	DT White	23,896	39.8
	Liberal	Mark E Willies	8,253	13.8
Majority			3,918	6.5
Turnout			59,963	85.4
	Conservative hold		Swing

Elections in the 1950s

General Election 1959: Somerset North Electorate 63,231
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Edwin Hartley Cameron Leather	30,432	56.3
	Labour	E Fraser Wilde	23,649	43.7
Majority			6,783	12.5
Turnout			54,081	85.5
	Conservative hold		Swing

General Election 1955: Somerset North Electorate 58,282
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Edwin Hartley Cameron Leather	26,985	54.2
	Labour	David R Llewellyn	22,802	45.8
Majority			4,183	8.4
Turnout			54,081	85.4
	Conservative hold		Swing

General Election 1951: Somerset North Electorate 59,167
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Edwin Hartley Cameron Leather	27,465	52.4
	Labour	Robert J Hurst	24,917	47.6
Majority			2,548	4.9
Turnout				88.5
	Conservative hold		Swing

General Election 1950: Somerset North Electorate 59,919
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Edwin Hartley Cameron Leather	23,953	45.6
	Labour	Xenia Field	23,050	43.8
	Liberal	Albert Ernest Whitcher	5,573	10.6
Majority			903	1.7
Turnout				87.7
	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.
↑ "FINAL RECOMMENDATIONS FOR PARLIAMENTARY CONSTITUENCIES IN THE UNITARY AUTHORITY OF NORTH SOMERSET". Boundary Commission for England. 8 November 2000. Retrieved 11 November 2010.
↑ Unemployment claimants by constituency The Guardian
↑ 2001 Census
↑ "Somerset North". Guardian. Retrieved 5 October 2012.
↑ "Election Data 2015". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 17 October 2015. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
↑ http://ukpollingreport.co.uk/2015guide/somersetnorth/
↑ "Election Data 2010". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 17 October 2015. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
↑ "Somerset North". BBC News (BBC). 7 May 2010. Retrieved 7 May 2010.

Constituencies in South West England (55)

Conservative (51)	Bath Bournemouth East Bournemouth West Bridgwater and West Somerset Bristol North West Camborne and Redruth Central Devon Cheltenham Chippenham Christchurch Devizes East Devon Filton and Bradley Stoke Forest of Dean Gloucester Kingswood Mid Dorset and North Poole Newton Abbot North Cornwall North Devon North Dorset North East Somerset North Somerset North Swindon North Wiltshire Plymouth Moor View Plymouth Sutton and Devonport Poole Salisbury Somerton and Frome South Dorset South East Cornwall South Swindon South West Devon South West Wiltshire St Austell and Newquay St Ives Stroud Taunton Deane Tewkesbury The Cotswolds Thornbury and Yate Tiverton and Honiton Torbay Torridge and West Devon Totnes Truro and Falmouth Wells West Dorset Weston-super-Mare Yeovil

Labour (4)	Bristol East Bristol South Bristol West Exeter

South West England European constituency: Conservative (2) Green (1) Labour (1) UKIP (2)

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