Bridgwater and West Somerset (UK Parliament constituency)

Bridgwater and West Somerset
County constituency
for the House of Commons

Outline map

Boundary of Bridgwater and West Somerset in Somerset.

Outline map

Location of Somerset within England.
County Somerset
Population 106,450 (2011 census)[1]
Electorate 82,936 (December 2010)[2]
Major settlements Bridgwater
Current constituency
Created 2010
Member of parliament Ian Liddell-Grainger (Conservative)
Number of members One
Created from Bridgwater, Taunton
Overlaps
European Parliament constituency South West England

Bridgwater and West Somerset is a constituency[n 1] represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since creation in 2010 by Ian Liddell-Grainger of the Conservative Party.[n 2]

History

Bridgwater was one of the original parliamentary borough constituencies in England[n 3] (with fifteen years of non-existence in the late 19th century after the seat was abolished for corruption in 1870 and being subsumed into a slightly larger seat on a review of Somerset's representation by the Boundary Commission[3] in 1885).

In 2010 seven candidates stood. The second placed candidate was a Liberal Democrat, Theo Butt Philip, 11.2% ahead of the candidate from the Labour Party. The incumbent, Ian Liddell-Grainger is a former Major in the Territorial Army, farmer and defence advisor.

Boundaries

The District of Sedgemoor wards of Bridgwater Bower, Bridgwater Eastover, Bridgwater Hamp, Bridgwater Quantock, Bridgwater Sydenham, Bridgwater Victoria, Cannington and Quantocks, East Poldens, Huntspill and Pawlett, King’s Isle, North Petherton, Puriton, Sandford, West Poldens, and Woolavington, and the District of West Somerset.

Members of Parliament

See: Bridgwater constituency

ElectionMember[4] Party
2010 Ian Liddell-Grainger Conservative

Elections

Elections in the 2010s

General Election 2015: Bridgwater and West Somerset[5][6]
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Conservative Ian Liddell-Grainger 25,020 46.0 +0.7
UKIP Stephen Fitzgerald 10,437 19.2 +14.4
Labour Michael Lerry 9,589 17.6 +0.5
Liberal Democrat Theo Butt Philip[7] 6,765 12.4 -15.9
Green Julie Harvey-Smith 2,636 4.8 +3.3
Majority 14,583 26.8 +9.8
Turnout 54,447 67.6 -3.6
Conservative hold Swing

The Liberal Democrats initially selected Justine Baker as their candidate.[8] After being accepted for Bridgwater and West Somerset, Baker resigned in order to apply to stand as the candidate for Taunton Deane, a more winnable seat, she was not successful[9] and ultimately was not a candidate anywhere in the 2015 General Election. She was replaced by Theo Butt Philip, who had been the Liberal Democrat candidate at the 2010 General Election.

General Election 2010: Bridgwater and West Somerset[10]
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Conservative Ian Liddell-Grainger* 24,675 45.3 -0.1
Liberal Democrat Theo Butt Philip 15,426 28.3 +5.7
Labour Kathy Pearce 9,332 17.1 -8.5
UKIP Peter Hollings 2,604 4.8 +1.1
BNP Donna Treanor 1,282 2.4 +2.4
Green Charles Graham 859 1.6 -1.2
Independent Bob Cudlipp 315 0.6 +0.6
Majority 9,249 17.0
Turnout 54,493 71.2 +7.2
Conservative hold Swing -2.9
* Served as the MP for Bridgwater 2001–2010

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.
  3. ↑ Original is usually classified as sending representatives to the Model Parliament of 1295.
References
  1. ↑ "Bridgwater and West Somerset: Usual Resident Population, 2011". Neighbourhood Statistics. Office for National Statistics. Retrieved 2 February 2015.
  2. ↑ "Electorate Figures - Boundary Commission for England". 2011 Electorate Figures. Boundary Commission for England. 4 March 2011. Archived from the original on 6 November 2010. Retrieved 13 March 2011.
  3. ↑ "New Parliamentary Constituencies for England SN/PC/04297" (PDF). House of Commons Library. 5 November 2009. Retrieved 12 December 2009.
  4. ↑ "Ian Liddell-Grainger". Parliament UK. Retrieved 16 September 2012.
  5. ↑ "Election Data 2015". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 17 October 2015. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
  6. ↑ "Bridgwater & Somerset West - Election 2015". BBC News.
  7. ↑ http://www.libdems.org.uk/general_election_candidates#South West
  8. ↑ "Justine Baker". Lib Dems. Retrieved 1 February 2015.
  9. ↑ "Rejected! Bridgwater Lib Dem candidate is lame duck after she fails to get better seat". Somerset Labour. 7 December 2014. Retrieved 2 February 2015.
  10. ↑ "Election Data 2010". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 26 July 2013. Retrieved 17 October 2015.

External links

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 11/8/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.