Bath (UK Parliament constituency)

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Bath County constituency

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.

1 Boundaries
- 1.1 Boundary review
2 History
3 Members of Parliament
4 Elections
5 See also
6 References
7 External link

[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

List of Parliamentary constituencies in Avon

[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

BBC profile of Bath constituency

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)

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Categories: Parliamentary constituencies in the South West | United Kingdom Parliamentary constituencies established in 1295