Bath (UK Parliament constituency)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Bath County constituency |
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Bath shown within Avon (county), and Avon (county) shown within England | |
Created: | 1295 |
MP: | Don Foster |
Party: | Liberal Democrat |
Type: | House of Commons |
County: | Somerset |
EP constituency: | South West England |
Bath is a constituency in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It is an ancient constituency which has been constantly present in parliament for a number of centuries.
Contents |
[edit] Boundaries
The constituency includes the city of Bath, and has done so for over two centuries. Since 1995, the constituency now includes a further five village wards and 7000 voters transferred from the Wansdyke constituency.
[edit] Boundary review
Following their review of the constituencies in the former county of Avon the Boundary Commission for England has recommended that the constituency contract back to the city of Bath, and this will probably be agreed before the next general election.
The electoral wards which make up the re-created Bath constituency are;
- Abbey, Bathwick, Combe Down, Kingsmead, Lambridge, Lansdown, Lyncombe, Newbridge, Odd Down, Oldfield, Southdown, Twerton, Walcot, Westmoreland, Weston and Widcombe.
[edit] History
Before the Reform Act of 1832 Bath had received writs to select representatives to parliament. It had been invited before the seventeenth century, but was certainly present on the list of constituencies from the seventeenth century until the Reform Act along with Bridgwater, Ilchester, Milborne Port, Minehead, Taunton and Wells in Somerset. Bath was able to, along with the others, send 2 constituents to parliament. Each constituency chose its own method of choosing the candidates during this time, in Bath the Mayor, Aldermen and Common Councillors chose the candidate in public. This practiced continued until the Ballot Act of 1872 determined that this should be done in private to resist bribery. It was one of the few Somerset constituencies to survive the nineteenth century reforms to this time, along with Taunton. An Act of 1884 extended the selection of the candidate to all men over 21. Bath had been a county borough as established by the Local Government Act of 1888. While Bath constantly remained a constituency, one of the oldest in the country, Taunton lost its status in 1918 and became part of a county constituency.
Though a Conservative seat for much of the 20th century it was not considered safe. In 1966, Labour had come just 800 votes from taking the seat. The SDP, second for most of the 1980s, came just 1500 votes from winning in 1987 under Malcolm Dean. In 1992, Conservative Chris Patten was ousted by Don Foster. In 1995, the constituency was expanded from just the city to include five further village wards and 7000 Wansdyke voters.
[edit] Members of Parliament
The current Member of Parliament is Don Foster of the Liberal Democrats, who was elected in the 1992 general election. He famously succeeded Chris Patten, the then Conservative Party chairman. Patten's party had held the seat for several decades, fending off close calls and challenges by Labour, the SDP and the Liberal Democrats since before the 1960s.
- Constituency created (1295)
- 1873 — 1874: Arthur Egerton, Conservative
- Representation reduced to one (1918)
- 1918 — 1923: Charles Talbot Foxcroft, Conservative
- 1923 — 1924: Frank Raffety, Liberal
- 1924 — 1929: Charles Talbot Foxcroft, Conservative
- 1929 — 1931: Charles William Baillie-Hamilton
- 1931 — 1945: Thomas Loel Evelyn Bulkeley Guinness, Conservative
- 1945 — 1964: Sir James Pitman, Conservative
- 1964 — 1979: Sir Edward Brown, Conservative
- 1979 — 1992: Chris Patten, Conservative
- 1992 — present: Don Foster, Liberal Democrat
[edit] Elections
[edit] Elections in the 2000s
- General election of 2005
The 2005 general election saw two more candidates stand than in 2001, both of whom were independent. All parties apart from the Liberal Democrats ran different candidates.
General Election 2005: Bath | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
Liberal Democrats | Don Foster | 20,101 | 43.9 | −6.6 | |
Conservative | Sian Dawson | 15,463 | 33.7 | +4.6 | |
Labour | Harriet Ajderian | 6,773 | 14.8 | −0.9 | |
Green | Eric Lucas | 2,494 | 5.4 | +2.2 | |
UKIP | Richard Crowder | 770 | 1.7 | +0.2 | |
Independent (politician) | Patrick Cobbe | 177 | 0.4 | N/A | |
Independent (politician) | Graham Walker | 58 | 0.1 | N/A | |
Majority | 4638 | 10.1 | −11.3 | ||
Turnout | 45,836 | 68.6 | +3.7 | ||
Liberal Democrats hold | Swing | −5.6 |
- General election of 2001
General Election 2001: Bath | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
Liberal Democrats | Don Foster | 23,372 | 50.5 | +2.0 | |
Conservative | Ashley Fox | 13,478 | 29.1 | -2.1 | |
Labour | Marilyn Hawkings | 7,269 | 15.7 | -0.7 | |
Green | Michael Boulton | 1,469 | 3.2 | +2.1 | |
UKIP | Andrew Tettenborn | 708 | 1.5 | +0.9 | |
Majority | 9,894 | 21.4 | +4.1 | ||
Turnout | 64.9 | -11.3 | |||
Liberal Democrats hold | Swing |
[edit] Elections in the 1990s
General Election 1997: Bath | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
Liberal Democrats | Don Foster | 26,169 | 48.5 | -0.4 | |
Conservative | Alison McNair | 16,850 | 31.2 | -9.4 | |
Labour | Tim Bush | 8,828 | 16.4 | +8.6 | |
Referendum Party | Tony Cook | 1,192 | 2.2 | N/A | |
Green | Richard Scrase | 580 | 1.1 | +0.3 | |
UKIP | Peter Sandell | 315 | 0.6 | N/A | |
Natural Law | Nicholas Pullen | 55 | 0.1 | N/A | |
Majority | 9,319 | 17.3 | +10.2 | ||
Turnout | 76.2 | -9.3 | |||
Liberal Democrats hold | Swing |
General Election 1992: Bath | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
Liberal Democrats | Don Foster | 25,718 | 48.9 | ||
Conservative | Chris Patten | 21,950 | 41.8 | ||
Labour | Pam Richards | 4,102 | 7.8 | ||
Green | Duncan McCanlis | 433 | 0.8 | ||
Liberal | May Barker | 172 | 0.3 | ||
Anti-Federalist League | Alan Sked | 117 | 0.2 | ||
Independent Conservative | John Rumming | 79 | 0.2 | ||
Majority | 3,768 | 7.1 | |||
Turnout | 82.5 | ||||
Liberal Democrats gain from Conservative | Swing |
[edit] Elections in the 1980s
General Election 1987: Bath | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
Conservative | Chris Patten | 23,515 | 45.4 | ||
Social Democrat | J. M. Dean | 22,103 | 42.7 | ||
Labour | J. Smith | 5,507 | 10.6 | ||
Green | D. N. Wall | 687 | 1.3 | ||
Majority | 1,412 | 2.7 | |||
Turnout | 79.4 | ||||
Conservative hold | Swing |
General Election 1983: Bath | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
Conservative | Chris Patten | 22,544 | 47.1 | ||
Social Democrat | J. M. Dean | 17,240 | 36.0 | ||
Labour | A. J. Pott | 7,259 | 15.2 | ||
Ecology | D. Grimes | 441 | 0.9 | ||
Progressive Liberal | R. S. Wandle | 319 | 0.7 | ||
World Government | Gilbert Young | 67 | 0.1 | ||
Majority | 5,304 | 11.1 | |||
Turnout | 74.4 | ||||
Conservative hold | Swing |
[edit] Elections in the 1970s
General Election 1979: Bath | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
Conservative | Chris Patten | 23,025 | 46.4 | ||
Liberal | Christopher Mayhew | 13,913 | 28.0 | ||
Labour | M. Baber | 11,407 | 23.0 | ||
Ecology | D. Grimes | 1,082 | 2.2 | ||
National Front | T. Mundy | 206 | 0.4 | ||
Majority | 9,112 | 18.4 | |||
Turnout | 78.1 | ||||
Conservative hold | Swing |
General Election October 1974: Bath | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
Conservative | Edward Brown | 18,470 | 37.7 | ||
Liberal | Christopher Mayhew | 16,348 | 33.4 | ||
Labour | M. L. Bishop | 14,011 | 28.6 | ||
United Democratic | J. Kemp | 150 | 0.3 | ||
Majority | 2,122 | 4.3 | |||
Turnout | 78.6 | ||||
Conservative hold | Swing |
General Election February 1974: Bath | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
Conservative | Edward Brown | 20,920 | 40.8 | ||
Liberal | P. Downey | 15,738 | 30.7 | ||
Labour | M. L. Bishop | 14,396 | 27.9 | ||
Independent Conservative | H. B. de Laterriere | 204 | 0.4 | ||
World Government | Gilbert Young | 118 | 0.2 | ||
Majority | 5,182 | 10.1 | |||
Turnout | 83.0 | ||||
Conservative hold | Swing |
General Election 1970: Bath | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
Conservative | Edward Brown | 22,344 | 49.0 | ||
Labour | D. W. Young | 16,493 | 36.1 | ||
Liberal | R. H. Crowther | 5,957 | 13.1 | ||
World Government | Gilbert Young | 840 | 1.8 | ||
Majority | 5,851 | 12.8 | |||
Turnout | 77.1 | ||||
Conservative hold | Swing |
[edit] Elections in the 1960s
General Election 1966: Bath | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
Conservative | Edward Brown | 19,344 | 43.0 | ||
Labour | F. S. Moorhouse | 18,544 | 41.2 | ||
Liberal | R. H. Crowther | 7,095 | 15.8 | ||
Majority | 800 | 1.8 | |||
Turnout | 80.5 | ||||
Conservative hold | Swing |
General Election 1964: Bath | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
Conservative | Edward Brown | 22,255 | 46.5 | ||
Labour | F. S. Moorhouse | 16,464 | 34.4 | ||
Liberal | B. R. Pamplin | 8,795 | 18.4 | ||
World Government | Gilbert Young | 318 | 0.7 | ||
Majority | 5,791 | 12.1 | |||
Turnout | 84.2 | ||||
Conservative hold | Swing |
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- Parliamentary representation. Aspects of Somerset History. Retrieved on April 26, 2007.
- Bath. 2001 election results. Retrieved on April 26, 2007.
- Bath election history. Guardian Unlimited Politics. Retrieved on April 26, 2007.
- Boundary Commission for England - Bath. Boundary changes. Retrieved on July 3, 2007.
- Constituencies in the unreformed House. Constituency start dates. Retrieved on July 3, 2007.
[edit] External link
Constituencies in South West England | |
---|---|
Conservative |
Bournemouth East | Bournemouth West | Bridgwater | Christchurch | Cotswold | Devizes | East Devon | Forest of Dean | North Dorset | North Wiltshire | Poole | Salisbury | South West Devon | Tewkesbury | Tiverton and Honiton | Torridge and West Devon | Totnes | Wells | West Dorset | Westbury | Weston-super-Mare | Woodspring |
Liberal Democrat |
Bath | Bristol West | Cheltenham | Falmouth and Camborne | Mid Dorset and North Poole | North Cornwall | North Devon | Northavon | Somerton and Frome | South East Cornwall | St Ives | Taunton | Teignbridge | Torbay | Truro and St Austell | Yeovil |
Labour |
Bristol East | Bristol North West | Bristol South | Exeter | Gloucester | Kingswood | North Swindon | Plymouth Devonport | Plymouth Sutton | South Dorset | South Swindon | Stroud | Wansdyke |
South West European constituency: Conservative (3) | UKIP (2) | Liberal Democrats (1) | Labour (1) |