Nuneaton (UK Parliament constituency)

Nuneaton
County constituency
for the House of Commons
Boundary of Nuneaton in Warwickshire.
Location of Warwickshire within England.
County	Warwickshire
Electorate	68,288 (December 2010)[1]
Current constituency
Created	1885 (1885)
Member of Parliament	Marcus Jones (Conservative)
Number of members	One
Created from	South Warwickshire
Overlaps
European Parliament constituency	West Midlands

Nuneaton 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.

Boundaries

Pre-2010

The boundary changes which took effect for the 1983 General Election removed the town of Bedworth, which was transferred to the newly created North Warwickshire constituency. As a result the sitting MP, Les Huckfield declined to stand and unsuccessfully sought the nomination in other constituencies such as Wigan^[2] and Sedgefield.^[3]

From 1983 to the 2010 election, the Nuneaton consistency covered most of the borough of Nuneaton & Bedworth (12 out of 17 wards), and the northern part of the borough of Rugby (3 out of 20 wards).

The remaining five wards of Nuneaton & Bedworth borough, covering the town of Bedworth, formed – and indeed still form – part of the North Warwickshire constituency. The rest of Rugby borough formed part of the (now abolished) Rugby & Kenilworth constituency.

The composition of the constituency, in terms of borough wards, was as follows:

• From Nuneaton & Bedworth: Abbey, Arbury, Attleborough, Bar Pool, Bulkington, Camp Hill, Galley Common, Kingswood, St Nicolas, Weddington, Wem Brook, Whitestone;
• From Rugby: Earl Craven & Wolston, Fosse, Wolvey.

Places covered by the pre-2007 constituency include the town of Nuneaton and the villages of Ansty, Brinklow, Bulkington, Burton Hastings, Monks Kirby, Stretton-under-Fosse, Wolston and Wolvey.

2010 onwards

Following a review of constituency boundaries in Warwickshire in 2001/02, an extra constituency was created in the county to reflect an increase in the electorate; this had an impact on all the existing constituencies.^[4] The Nuneaton constituency was modified as follows:

• the three Rugby borough wards of Earl Craven & Wolston, Fosse, and Wolvey were lost to the new Rugby constituency;
• the Nuneaton & Bedworth borough ward of Bulkington was also lost to the new Rugby constituency;
• the two North Warwickshire borough wards of Arley & Whitacre, and Hartshill were gained from the North Warwickshire constituency.

The new composition, in terms of borough wards, is therefore as follows:

• From North Warwickshire: Arley & Whitacre, Hartshill;
• From Nuneaton & Bedworth: Abbey, Arbury, Attleborough, Bar Pool, Camp Hill, Galley Common, Kingswood, St Nicolas, Weddington, Wem Brook, Whitestone.

Places covered by the new constituency include the town of Nuneaton and the villages of Ansley, Ansley Common, Birchley Heath, Caldecote, Furnace End, Hartshill, New Arley, Old Arley, Over Whitacre and Whitacre Heath.

The new constituency boundaries came into effect on 13 June 2007,^[5] and were used for the first time for the 2010 general election.

History

A seat with a strong industrial and mining tradition, Nuneaton was held by the Labour Party for nearly 50 years until they lost it to the Conservatives in their heavy defeat in the 1983 general election.

Labour regained the constituency at the 1992 election, with Bill Olner beating the incumbent Conservative Lewis Stevens, and retaining the seat in 2001 and 2005. Bill Olner announced in 2007 that he would not be contesting the 2010 General Election and would be standing down at the end of the 2005-2010 parliament.^[6] Former Nuneaton and Bedworth Council Leader, Marcus Jones was successful in taking the seat for the Conservative Party at the 2010 election.

Members of Parliament

Election		Member[7]	Party
	1885	Jasper Wilson Johns	Liberal
	1886	John Stratford Dugdale	Conservative
	1892	Francis Newdigate, from 1902 Francis Newdigate-Newdegate	Conservative
	1906	William Johnson	Liberal
	1909		Labour
	1918	Sir Henry Maddocks	Coalition Conservative
	1923	Herbert Willison	Liberal
	1924	Arthur Hope	Conservative
	1929	Francis Smith	Labour
	1931	Edward North	Conservative
	1935	Reginald Fletcher	Labour
	1942 by-election	Frank Bowles	Labour
	1965 by-election	Frank Cousins	Labour
	1967 by-election	Les Huckfield	Labour
	1983	Lewis Stevens	Conservative
	1992	Bill Olner	Labour
	2010	Marcus Jones	Conservative

Elections

Election	Political result		Candidate		Party	Votes	%	±%
General Election 2010 [8] Turnout: 44,646 (65.8%) +6.9		Conservative gain from Labour Majority: 2,069 (4.6%) -0.4 Swing: 7.2% from Lab to Con		Marcus Jones	Conservative	18,536	41.5	+4.6
				Jayne Innes	Labour	16,467	36.9	-9.8
				Christina Jebb	Liberal Democrat	6,846	15.3	+2.8
				Martyn Findley	BNP	2,797	6.3	N/A
General Election 2005 [9] Turnout: 45,279 (61.7%) +1.6		Labour hold Majority: 2,280 (5.0%) -12.4 Swing: 6.2% from Lab to Con		Bill Olner	Labour	19,945	44.0	-8.1
				Mark Pawsey	Conservative	17,665	39.0	+4.3
				Ali Asghar	Liberal Democrat	5,884	13.0	+1.9
				Keith Tyson	UKIP	1,786	3.9	+1.9
General Election 2001 [10] Turnout: 43,312 (60.1%) −14.3		Labour hold Majority: 7,535 (17.4%) -7.9 Swing: 4.0% from Lab to Con		Bill Olner	Labour	22,577	52.1	-4.1
				Mark Lancaster	Conservative	15,042	34.7	+3.8
				Tony Ferguson	Liberal Democrat	4,820	11.1	+2.3
				Brian James	UKIP	873	2.0	+1.5
General Election 1997 Turnout: 53,513 (74.4%) −8.6		Labour hold Majority: 13,540 (25.3%) +22.5		Bill Olner	Labour	30,080	56.2	+10.5
				Richard Blunt	Conservative	16,540	30.9	-12.1
				Ron Cockings	Liberal Democrat	4,732	8.8	-2.4
				R. English	Referendum Party	1,533	2.9	N/A
				D. Bray	Independent	390	0.7	N/A
				P. Everitt	UKIP	238	0.5	N/A
General Election 1992 [11] Turnout: 59,354 (83.0%) +2.7		Labour gain from Conservative Majority: 1,631 (2.8%) -7.5 Swing: 6.6% from Con to Lab		Bill Olner	Labour	27,157	45.8	+11.2
				Lewis Stevens	Conservative	25,526	43.0	-1.9
				Ruth Merritt	Liberal Democrat	6,671	11.2	-8.0
General Election 1987 Turnout: 54,874 (80.3%) +2.7		Conservative hold Majority: 5655 (10.3%) +0.4		Lewis Stevens	Conservative	24,630	44.9	+4.4
				V. Veness	Labour	18,975	34.6	+4.0
				A. Trembath	Liberal	10,550	19.2	-8.8
				J. Morrissey	Green	719	1.3	N/A
General Election 1983 Turnout: 51,039 (77.3%) -1.2		Conservative gain from Labour Majority: 5,061 (9.9%) -2.3		Lewis Stevens	Conservative	20,666	40.5	+2.8
				J. Haynes	Labour	15,605	30.6	-19.3
				R. Levitt	Social Democrat	14,264	28.0	+18.2
				G.E. Davies	Independent	504	1.0	±0
General Election 1979 Turnout: 62,959 (78.5%) +4.6		Labour hold Majority: 7,688 (12.2%) -18.6		Les Huckfield	Labour	31,403	49.9	-6.2
				Lewis Stevens	Conservative	23,715	37.7	+12.5
				C.E.G. Williams	Liberal	6,184	9.8	-8.8
				R.P. Matthews	National Front	1,028	1.6	N/A
				G.E. Davies	Independent	504	1.0	N/A
General Election Oct' 1974 [12] Electorate: 77,892 Turnout: 57,584 (73.9%)		Labour hold Majority: 17,761 (30.8%)		Les Huckfield	Labour	32,308	56.1
				R Freeman	Conservative	14,547	25.3
				N Hawkins	Liberal	10,729	18.6

See also

• List of Parliamentary constituencies in Warwickshire

Notes and references

1. ^ "Electorate Figures - Boundary Commission for England". 2011 Electorate Figures. Boundary Commission for England. 4 March 2011. http://www.boundarycommissionforengland.org.uk/electoral-figures/electoral-figures.htm. Retrieved 13 March 2011. 
2. ^ Alamanac of British Politics, 3rd edition, Robert Waller
3. ^ "The glittering prize", The Telegraph, 16 July 2000 accessed 24 April 2010
4. ^ Commission for England page on the Warwickshire boundary review
5. ^ "The Parliamentary Constituencies (England) Order 2007"
6. ^ Coventry Telegraph 27 March 2007 Accessed 26 November 2007
7. ^ Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "N" (part 3)
8. ^ "UK > England > West Midlands > Nuneaton". Election 2010 (BBC). 7 May 2010. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/election2010/results/constituency/d42.stm. Retrieved 11 May 2010. 
9. ^ "electoralcommission.org.uk". http://www.electoralcommission.org.uk/elections/results/general_elections/uk-general-election-2005/nuneaton. 
10. ^ BBC News. http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/static/vote2001/results_constituencies/constituencies/441.stm. 
11. ^ "Politics Resources". Election 1992. Politics Resources. 9 April 1992. http://www.politicsresources.net/area/uk/ge92/ge92index.htm. Retrieved 2010-12-06. 
12. ^ http://www.politicsresources.net/area/uk/ge74b/i15.htm

External links

• Nuneaton Labour, Jayne Innes
• Nuneaton Conservatives

Coordinates: 52°30′N 1°27′W / 52.50°N 1.45°W / 52.50; -1.45