West Suffolk (UK Parliament constituency)

West Suffolk
County constituency
for the House of Commons
Boundary of West Suffolk in Suffolk.
Location of Suffolk within England.
County	Suffolk
Electorate	76,158 (December 2010)[1]
Major settlements	Newmarket, Haverhill and Mildenhall
Current constituency
Created	1997 (1997)
Member of Parliament	Matthew Hancock (Conservative)
Number of members	One
1832 (1832)–1885 (1885)
Number of members	Two
Type of constituency	County constituency
Replaced by	Bury St Edmunds (also succeeded itself) North-Western or 'Stowmarket' Division South or 'Sudbury' Division
Created from	Suffolk
Overlaps
European Parliament constituency	East of England

West Suffolk is a constituency^{[n 1]} represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2010 by Matthew Hancock, a Conservative.^{[n 2]}

History [edit]

1832-1885 [edit]

The seat saw a relatively long first existence under the Reform Act 1832 merely as a more representative division (with a total of four MPs) instead of two for the the former entire county at large, which still allowed for double voting (or more) of those Forty Shilling Freeholders who also were householders or landlords of any particular boroughs within the county. This Act retained the four largest boroughs of the seven before 1832.

With two heirs to their title serving the seat were the Marquesses of Bristol, the Hervey family, major landowners in the county and the modern seat, at Ickworth, part of its grand house now being a luxury hotel.

Equally sweeping changes took place at the end of this period with the Redistribution of Seats Act 1885 which here saw the establishment of three single-member constituencies covering much of the former half-county by widening the narrow and underpopulated dual-member seat of Bury St Edmunds: the other two seats being named the North-Western or 'Stowmarket' Division and the South or 'Sudbury' Division.

1997-date [edit]

Its second creation occurred with Parliamentary approval of the Boundary Commission's third periodic review in time for the 1997 election (the first such review having been in 1945, following the Representation of the People Act 1918 review).

Political History

The seat in this time has only been represented by Conservatives with the narrowest majority having been that of 1997 at only 3.8% of the vote, since which the majority has gradually increased to a level seen most commonly in safe seats.

For the 2010 General Election, the transition was planned six months before, on 23 November 2009, when the incumbent announced he would not stand again.^[2]

Prominent Frontbenchers

Richard Spring^{[n 3]} was an opposition spokesman for Foreign Affairs (2000-2004) (shadowing a Foreign and Commonwealth Office Minister) then Shadow Minister for the Treasury (2004-2005) before being a Vice-Chairman of his party and being appointed to the House of Lords as Lord Risby.

Boundaries [edit]

The constituency includes the town of Newmarket, the world headquarters of horse racing as well as the towns of Haverhill and Mildenhall with a farmed landscape, interspersed with patches of forest^{[n 4]} and small villages.

Boundary review [edit]

Parliament accepted the Boundary Commission's Fifth Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies which slightly altered this constituency for the General Election 2010 since which it has electoral wards:

• All Saints, Brandon: East and West wards, Eriswell and The Rows, Exning, Great Heath, Iceni, Lakenheath, Manor, Market, Red Lodge, St Mary's, Severals, and South forming the Forest Heath District
• Bardwell, Barningham, Barrow, Chedburgh, Haverhill East, Haverhill North, Haverhill South, Haverhill West, Hundon, Ixworth, Kedington, Risby, Stanton, Wickhambrook, and Withersfield in the St Edmundsbury Borough.^[3]

History of Boundaries

Parliament accepted the Boundary Commission's Fifth Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies, following the fourth review in 1997, which made slight changes to this constituency for the General Election 2010, namely the loss of minorities of Cavendish, Horringer & Welnetham and Pakenham wards, however full inclusion of the Chedburgh and Risby wards.

Constituency Profile [edit]

This area includes a slightly older demographic profile than the national average, with a significant proportion of semi-detached and detached homes and a higher than average proportion or retired people.^[4]

Major economic sectors include defence (RAF Mildenhall and RAF Lakenheath), agriculture/food (including for major products as well as regional specialities such as ales, Suffolk cider and cured meats), tourism and leisure (such as Newmarket racecourse) and particularly in Haverhill, a range of industries. These include chemicals (such as International Flavors and Fragrances), waste processing, transport, construction and pharmaceuticals.

Workless claimants who were registered jobseekers were in November 2012 lower than the national average of 3.8%, at 2.5% of the population based on a statistical compilation by The Guardian.^[5]

Members of Parliament [edit]

MPs 1832–1885 [edit]

MPs since 1997 [edit]

Elections [edit]

Elections in the 2010s [edit]

Elections in the 2000s [edit]

Elections in the 1990s [edit]

See also [edit]

• List of Parliamentary constituencies in Suffolk

Notes and references [edit]

Notes

References