The Cotswolds (UK Parliament constituency)

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]}

Members of Parliament

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.^[3]

This was also the constituency, when declared during the 2015 UK General Election, saw the Conservatives gain a surprising majority that re-elected David Cameron as a hung parliament had been widely considered.

Boundaries

The constituency was created in 1997 as Cotswold, mostly from the former seat of Cirencester and Tewkesbury. In 2010 the name was changed to The Cotswolds to reflect the local district name.

2010-present: The District of Cotswold, and the District of Stroud wards of Kingswood, Minchinhampton, and Wotton-under-Edge.

1997-2010: The District of Cotswold, and the District of Stroud ward of Wotton and Kingswood.

Elections

Elections in the 2010s

General Election 2017: The Cotswolds^[4][5]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	Geoffrey Clifton-Brown	36,201	60.1	4.1
	Labour	Mark Huband	10,702	17.9	8.7
	Liberal Democrat	Andrew Gant	9,748	16.3	2.3
	Green	Sabrina Poole	1,747	2.9	1.7
	UKIP	Chris Harlow	1,197	2	8.9
	Independent	Sandy Steel	107	0.2	N/A
Majority			25,499	42.3	4.8
Turnout			59,702	74.2	1.8
Registered electors			80,449
	Conservative hold		Swing	2.3

General Election 2015: The Cotswolds^[6][7]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	Geoffrey Clifton-Brown	32,045	56.5	3.5
	Liberal Democrat	Paul Hodgkinson [8]	10,568	18.6	10.9
	UKIP	Chris Harlow	6,188	10.9	6.7
	Labour	Manjinder Kang	5,240	9.2	1.5
	Green	Penny Burgess	2,626	4.6	2.9
Majority			21,477	37.9	14.4
Turnout			56,667	72.4	0.9
Registered electors			78,292
	Conservative hold		Swing	7.2

General Election 2010: The Cotswolds^{[9][10] [11]}

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
Registered electors			76,728
	Conservative hold		Swing	1.1

Elections in the 2000s

General Election 2005: Cotswold^[12]

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	-5.6
Turnout			47,351	66.7	0.8
Registered electors			71,039
	Conservative hold		Swing	2.8

General Election 2001: Cotswold^[13]

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	2.7
Turnout			45,981	67.5	8.5
Registered electors			68,157
	Conservative hold		Swing	1.3

Elections in the 1990s

See also

• List of Parliamentary constituencies in Gloucestershire

Notes and references

Notes

References