Truro and St Austell (UK Parliament constituency)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Truro and St Austell County constituency |
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|---|---|
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| Truro and St Austell shown within Cornwall, and Cornwall shown within England | |
| Created: | 1295 |
| MP: | Matthew Taylor |
| Party: | Liberal Democrat |
| Type: | House of Commons |
| County: | Cornwall |
| EP constituency: | South West England |
Truro and St Austell is a county constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elects one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first past the post system of election.
Contents |
[edit] Boundaries
The constituency is centred on the district of Carrick, which contains the city of Truro and the borough of Restormel which contains the town of St Austell.
[edit] Boundary review
Following their review of parliamentary representation in Cornwall, the Boundary Commission for England have created an extra seat for the county which means consequential changes for the existing seats. Truro and St Austell is disbanded, and is partly succeeded by St Austell and Newquay.
Truro forms part of the newly drawn Truro and Falmouth constituency.
[edit] History
The constituency has existed in a number of different forms. The constituency of Truro, up until 1885 elected two members to parliament; this was reduced to one. In 1918 the constituency was abolished but it was recreated again in 1950.
In 1997, in spite of the fact that no changes in boundaries were made to Truro, the Boundary Commission nonetheless saw fit to change its name to Truro and St. Austell, reflecting the fact that St Austell has a larger population than Truro. The seat became a safe Lib Dem bet thanks to the popularity and eloquence of its former MP, David Penhaligon. His tragic death in a car crash, aged only 42, robbed the House of Commons of one of its most independent-minded and pragmatic members. His successor, Matthew Taylor, has held the seat comfortably since a by-election in 1987.
[edit] Members of Parliament
[edit] 1295-1660
[edit] 1660-1885
[edit] 1885-present
| Year | Member | Party | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1885 | William Bickford-Smith | Liberal later Liberal Unionist | |
| 1892 | John Charles Williams | Liberal Unionist | |
| 1895 | Sir Edwin Durning-Lawrence | Liberal Unionist | |
| 1906 | George Hay Morgan | Liberal | |
| 1918 | constituency abolished | ||
| 1950 | constituency re-established | ||
| 1950 | Geoffrey Wilson | Conservative | |
| 1970 | Piers Dixon | Conservative | |
| 1974 | David Penhaligon | Liberal | |
| 1987 | Matthew Taylor | Liberal, then Liberal Democrat | |
| 1997 | name changed to Truro & St. Austell | ||
| 1997 | Matthew Taylor | Liberal Democrat | |
[edit] Election results
[edit] 2005
| General Election 2005: Truro and St Austell | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
| Liberal Democrats | Matthew Taylor | 24,089 | 46.7 | -1.6 | |
| Conservative | Fiona Kemp | 16,686 | 32.4 | +0.1 | |
| Labour | Charlotte Mackenzie | 6,991 | 13.6 | -0.1 | |
| UKIP | David Noakes | 2,736 | 5.3 | +2.0 | |
| Mebyon Kernow | Conan Jenkin | 1,062 | 2.1 | -0.2 | |
| Majority | 7,403 | 14.4 | |||
| Turnout | 51,564 | 64.2 | 0.7 | ||
| Liberal Democrats hold | Swing | -0.8 | |||
[edit] 2001
| General Election 2001: Truro and St Austell | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
| Liberal Democrats | Matthew Taylor | 24,296 | 48.3 | -0.2 | |
| Conservative | Tim Bonner | 16,231 | 32.3 | +5.8 | |
| Labour | David Phillips | 6,889 | 13.7 | -1.6 | |
| UKIP | James Wonnacott | 1,664 | 3.3 | +2.3 | |
| Mebyon Kernow | Conan Jenkin | 1,137 | 2.3 | +1.5 | |
| Independent (politician) | John Lee | 78 | 0.2 | -0.3 | |
| Majority | 8,065 | 16.0 | |||
| Turnout | 50,295 | 63.5 | -10.6 | ||
| Liberal Democrats hold | Swing | ||||
[edit] 1997
| General Election 1997: Truro and St Austell | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
| Liberal Democrats | Matthew Taylor | 27,502 | 48.5 | ||
| Conservative | Neil Badcock | 15,001 | 26.4 | ||
| Labour | Michael Dooley | 8,697 | 15.3 | ||
| Referendum Party | Carl Hearn | 3,682 | 6.5 | ||
| UKIP | Alan Haithwaite | 576 | 1.0 | ||
| Green | Dorienne Robinson | 482 | 0.8 | ||
| Mebyon Kernow | Davyth Hicks | 450 | 0.8 | ||
| Independent (politician) | Lorna Yelland | 240 | 0.4 | ||
| Natural Law | Peter Bolland | 117 | 0.2 | ||
| Majority | 12,501 | 22.0 | |||
| Turnout | 56,747 | 74.0 | |||
| Liberal Democrats hold | Swing | ||||
[edit] 1992
| General Election 1992: Truro | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
| Liberal Democrats | Matthew Taylor | 31,230 | 50.5 | ||
| Conservative | Nick St Aubyn | 23,660 | 38.3 | ||
| Labour | J Geach | 6,078 | 9.8 | ||
| Green | L Keating | 569 | 0.9 | ||
| Liberal | C Tankard | 208 | 0.3 | ||
| Independent (politician) | M Hartley | 108 | 0.2 | ||
| Majority | 7,570 | 12.2 | |||
| Turnout | |||||
| Liberal Democrats hold | Swing | ||||
The Liberal Party and the SDP merged between these elections and became the Liberal Democrats. C Tankard represented the newly formed Liberal Party.
[edit] 1987
| General Election 1987: Truro | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
| SDP-Liberal Alliance (Liberal) | Matthew Taylor | 28,368 | 49.0 | ||
| Conservative | Nick St Aubyn | 23,615 | 40.8 | ||
| Labour | John King | 5,882 | 10.2 | ||
| Majority | 4,753 | 8.2 | |||
| Turnout | 79.9 | ||||
| SDP-Liberal Alliance hold | Swing | ||||
[edit] Truro by-election, 1987
| Truro by-election, 1987 | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
| SDP-Liberal Alliance (Liberal) | Matthew Taylor | 30,599 | 60.4 | 3.1 | |
| Conservative | Nick St Aubyn | 15,982 | 31.5 | −6.6 | |
| Labour | John King | 3,603 | 7.1 | 2.6 | |
| Green | Howard Hoptrough | 403 | 0.8 | ||
| Death off Road: Freight on Rail | Helen Anscomb | 75 | 0.1 | ||
| Majority | 14,617 | 28.9 | |||
| Turnout | 50,662 | 70.2 | −9.4 | ||
| SDP-Liberal Alliance hold | Swing | ||||
[edit] 1983
| General election 1983: Truro | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
| SDP-Liberal Alliance (Liberal) | David Penhaligon | 31,279 | 57.3 | ||
| Conservative | P Buddell | 20,799 | 38.1 | ||
| Labour | J Beecroft | 2,479 | 4.6 | ||
| Majority | 10,480 | 19.2 | |||
| Turnout | 79.6 | ||||
| SDP-Liberal Alliance hold | Swing | ||||
[edit] See also
| 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) | |
