North Shropshire (UK Parliament constituency)

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.^[2] 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.^[3]

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,^[4] until another reshuffle in June 2014.

Boundaries

1832-1885: The Hundreds of Oswestry, Pimhill, North Bradford and South Bradford, and the Liberty of Shrewsbury.^[5]

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

Members of Parliament

MPs 1832–85

• Constituency created in 1832

MPs since 1983

Elections

Elections in the 2010s

General Election 2017: North Shropshire^[7]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	Owen Paterson	33,642	60.5	9.1
	Labour	Graeme Currie	17,287	31.1	11.0
	Liberal Democrat	Tom Thornhill	2,948	5.3	0.7
	Green	Duncan Kerr	1,722	3.1	1.8
Majority			16,355	29.4
Turnout			55,599	69.0	1.4
	Conservative hold		Swing	1.0

General Election 2015: North Shropshire^[8]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	Owen Paterson	27,041	51.5
	Labour	Graeme Currie	10,457	19.9	1.8
	UKIP	Andrea Allen[9]	9,262	17.6	12.9
	Liberal Democrat	Tom Thornhill	3,184	6.0	14.9
	Green	Duncan Kerr[10]	2,575	4.9	3.3
Majority			16,584	31.6
Turnout			52,483	67.6	0.9
	Conservative hold		Swing	0.9

Class War originally selected Al Derby as a candidate here, but he changed to Wolverhampton North East.^[11]

General Election 2010: North Shropshire^[12][13]

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

Elections in the 1990s

Elections in the 1980s

See also

• Parliamentary constituencies in Shropshire

Notes and references

Notes

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.