North Swindon (UK Parliament constituency)

Coordinates: 51°33′32″N 1°46′55″W / 51.559°N 1.782°W / 51.559; -1.782

North Swindon
County constituency
for the House of Commons

Outline map

Boundary of North Swindon in Wiltshire.

Outline map

Location of Wiltshire within England.
County Wiltshire
Electorate 79,488 (December 2010)[1]
Current constituency
Created 1997
Member of parliament Justin Tomlinson (Conservative)
Number of members One
Created from Swindon
Overlaps
European Parliament constituency South West England

North Swindon is a constituency[n 1] represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2010 by Justin Tomlinson, a Conservative.[n 2]

History

North Swindon was created in 1997 and has been a bellwether since then.

Boundaries

1997-2010: The Borough of Thamesdown wards of Blunsdon, Covingham, Gorse Hill, Haydon Wick, Highworth, Moredon, St Margaret, St Philip, Western, and Whitworth, and the District of North Wiltshire ward of Cricklade.

2010-present: The Borough of Swindon wards of Abbey Meads, Blunsdon, Covingham and Nythe, Gorse Hill and Pinehurst, Haydon Wick, Highworth, Moredon, Penhill, St Margaret, St Philip, and Western.

The seat's boundaries encompass an area that before its creation made up parts of the former Swindon constituency and pre-1997 versions of North Wiltshire and Devizes. In the 2010 boundary changes Cricklade became part of the North Wiltshire constituency while this seat acquired parts of the South Swindon constituency.

Constituency profile

The constituency covers much of urban and suburban Swindon, but also incorporates a substantial portion of the surrounding area, including Blunsdon and the market town of Highworth. North Swindon has an electorate of 79,488, the majority of whom live in the suburbs or close to Swindon's town centre. In 2001 52.9% of homes were into the categories of semi-detached or detached in the Swindon Local Authority area and seeing a 5.0% increase in flats/apartments in 2011 this figure had fallen slightly to 50.3%. In North Wiltshire a higher proportion of homes are detached (35.1%). In the same period those registered unemployed rose from 2.5% to 4.2% and those self-employed rose from 6.2% to 7.8%.[2] By contrast to Swindon South, unemployment in 2010, stood however at only 2.6% whereas in the South it stood at 3.5%. This is one indicator of social deprivation and compares to the highest seat's figure, 11.0% in Birmingham Ladywood.[3]

Members of Parliament

ElectionMember[4] Party
1997 Michael Wills Labour
2010 Justin Tomlinson Conservative

Elections

Elections in the 2010s

General Election 2015: North Swindon[5][6]
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Conservative Justin Tomlinson 26,295 50.3 +5.8
Labour Mark Dempsey [7] 14,509 27.8 -2.7
UKIP James Faulkner[8] 8,011 15.3 +11.7
Green Poppy Hebden-Leeder 1,723 3.3 +2.3
Liberal Democrat Janet Ellard[9] 1,704 3.3 -14.0
Majority 11,786 22.6
Turnout 64.5
Conservative hold Swing 4.3
General Election 2010: North Swindon[10][11]
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Conservative Justin Tomlinson 22,408 44.6 +5.7
Labour Victor Agarwal 15,348 30.5 -14.6
Liberal Democrat Jane Lock 8,668 17.2 +4.4
UKIP Stephen Halden 1,842 3.7 +1.4
BNP Reg Bates 1,542 3.1 +3.1
Green Bill Hughes 487 1.0 +1.0
Majority 7,060 14.0
Turnout 50,295 64.2 +3.4
Conservative gain from Labour Swing 10.1%

Elections in the 2000s

General Election 2005: North Swindon
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Labour Michael Wills 19,612 43.7 -9.2
Conservative Justin Tomlinson 17,041 38.0 +4.3
Liberal Democrat Mike Evemy 6,831 15.2 +3.6
UKIP Robert Tingey 998 2.2 +0.3
Socialist Unity Andy Newman 208 0.5 N/A
Independent Ernest Reynolds 195 0.4 N/A
Majority 2,571 5.7
Turnout 44,885 61.0 0.0
Labour hold Swing −6.7
General Election 2001: North Swindon
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Labour Michael Wills 22,371 52.9 +3.1
Conservative Nick Martin 14,266 33.7 -0.1
Liberal Democrat David Nation 4,891 11.6 -1.4
UKIP Brian Lloyd 800 1.9 N/A
Majority 8,105 19.2
Turnout 42,328 61.0 -12.6
Labour hold Swing

Elections in the 1990s

General Election 1997: North Swindon
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Labour Michael Wills 24,029 49.78
Conservative Guy Opperman 16,341 33.85
Liberal Democrat Mike Evemy 6,237 12.92
Referendum Gillian Goldsmith 1,533 3.18
Natural Law Alexander Fisken 130 0.27%
Majority 7,688 15.93
Turnout 73.66
Labour hold Swing 7.1

Neighbouring constituencies

See also

Notes and references

Notes
  1. A county constituency (for the purposes of election expenses and type of returning officer)
  2. As with all constituencies, the constituency elects one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first past the post system of election at least every five years.
References
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