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)
Major settlements	Newmarket, Haverhill and Mildenhall
Current constituency
Created	1997
Member of parliament	Matthew Hancock (Conservative)
Number of members	One
Created from	Central Suffolk
1832–1885
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 represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2010 by Matthew Hancock, a Conservative.

History

1832-1885

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 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

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.

Prominent frontbenchers

Richard Spring 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 elevated to the House of Lords as Lord Risby. Several of his ancestors had previously represented Suffolk in the House of Commons.

Boundaries

1997-2010: The District of Forest Heath, and the Borough of St Edmundsbury wards of Barningham, Barrow, Cangle, Castle, Chalkstone, Chevington, Clements, Honington, Horringer, Hundon, Ixworth, Kedington, Risby, St Mary’s and Helions, Stanton, Wickhambrook, and Withersfield.

2010-present: The District of Forest Heath (the wards of All Saints, Brandon East, Brandon West, Eriswell and The Rows, Exning, Great Heath, Iceni, Lakenheath, Manor, Market, Red Lodge, St Mary’s, Severals, and South), and the Borough of St Edmundsbury wards of Bardwell, Barningham, Barrow, Chedburgh, Haverhill East, Haverhill North, Haverhill South, Haverhill West, Hundon, Ixworth, Kedington, Risby, Stanton, Wickhambrook, and Withersfield.

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 and small villages.

Constituency profile

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.

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.

Members of Parliament

MPs 1832–1885

Election	Member		Party	Member		Party
1832		Charles Tyrrell	Liberal		Sir Hyde Parker, Bt	Liberal
1835		Henry Wilson	Liberal		Robert Rushbrooke	Conservative
1837		Robert Hart Logan	Conservative
1838 by-election		Harry Spencer Waddington	Conservative
1845 by-election					Philip Bennet	Conservative
1859		The Earl Jermyn	Conservative		William Parker	Conservative
1864 by-election		Lord Augustus Henry Charles Hervey	Conservative
June 1875 by-election		Fuller Maitland Wilson	Conservative
October 1875 by-election		Thomas Thornhill	Conservative
1880					William Biddell	Conservative
1885	constituency abolished

MPs since 1997

Election		Member	Party
	1997	Richard Spring	Conservative
	2010	Matthew Hancock	Conservative

Elections

Elections in the 2010s

General Election 2015: West Suffolk

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Matthew Hancock	25,684	52.2	+1.6
	UKIP	Julian Flood	10,700	21.7	+15.3
	Labour	Michael John Jefferys	8,604	17.5	+2.7
	Liberal Democrat	Elfreda Tealby-Watson	2,465	5.0	−18.4
	Green	Niall Pettitt	1,779	3.6	N/A
Majority			14,984	30.4	+3.3
Turnout			49,429	64.9	+0.3
	Conservative hold		Swing

General Election 2010: West Suffolk

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Matthew Hancock	24,312	50.6	+1.7
	Liberal Democrat	Belinda Brooks-Gordon	11,262	23.4	+6.2
	Labour	Abul Monsur Ohid Ahmed	7,089	14.7	−14.2
	UKIP	Ian Smith	3,085	6.4	+1.5
	BNP	Ramon Johns	1,428	3.0	N/A
	Independent	Andrew Appleby	540	1.1	N/A
	Christian Peoples	Colin Young	373	0.8	N/A
Majority			13,050	27.1	+6.9
Turnout			48,089	64.6	+3.8
	Conservative hold		Swing	−2.3

Elections in the 2000s

General Election 2005: West Suffolk

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Richard John Granville Spring	21,682	49.0	+1.4
	Labour	Michael John Jeffreys	12,773	28.9	−8.6
	Liberal Democrat	Adrian P. Graves	7,573	17.1	+5.3
	UKIP	Ian Smith	2,177	4.9	+1.8
Majority			8,909	20.2	+10.1
Turnout			44,205	60.7	+0.2
	Conservative hold		Swing	+5.0

General Election 2001: West Suffolk

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Richard John Granville Spring	20,201	47.6	+6.7
	Labour	Michael John Jefferys	15,906	37.5	+0.4
	Liberal Democrat	Robin Barry Martlew	5,017	11.8	−2.2
	UKIP	Will Burrows	1,321	3.1	N/A
Majority			4,295	10.1	+6.3
Turnout			42,445	60.5	−11.0
	Conservative hold		Swing	+3.1

Elections in the 1990s

General Election 1997: West Suffolk

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Richard John Granville Spring	20,081	40.9	N/A
	Labour	Michael John Jefferys	18,214	37.1	N/A
	Liberal Democrat	Adrian P. Graves	6,892	14.0	N/A
	Referendum	James J.T. Carver	3,724	7.6	N/A
	Natural Law	Alistair J.M. Shearer	171	0.3	N/A
Majority			1,867	3.8	N/A
Turnout			49,082	71.5	N/A
	Conservative win (new seat)

See also

• List of Parliamentary constituencies in Suffolk

Notes and references

Notes

References