Telford (UK Parliament constituency)

Telford
Borough constituency for the House of Commons
Boundary of Telford in Shropshire.
Location of Shropshire within England.
County	Shropshire
Electorate	65,938 (December 2010)
Current constituency
Created	1997
Member of parliament	Lucy Allan (Conservative)
Number of members	One
Created from	The Wrekin
Overlaps
European Parliament constituency	West Midlands

Telford is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since May 2015 by Lucy Allan, a Conservative, who defeated David Wright, the former Labour Party MP for the seat.

History

Created from the more rural Wrekin constituency for the 1997 general election, Telford was continuously held by the Labour Party, with a change in candidate in 2001, until the 2015 general election when the Conservatives took the seat from David Wright. Bruce Grocott was its first-ever MP, serving for the first four years. In 2010 Wright's majority fell to a marginal figure of 981 votes, and he lost in 2015 by 730 votes, the narrowest result to date.

Boundaries

Telford is made up of several old industrial towns to the north of the River Severn and on the eastern flanks of the Wrekin (including Madeley, Dawley and the small townships in the Ironbridge Gorge) and numerous New Town developments including Woodside. However, not all of the Telford New Town developments are in the constituency; the northern parts and some western areas (including the town of Wellington) which pre-dates Telford, are in The Wrekin constituency.

All of the constituency is covered by Telford and Wrekin Borough Council.

Boundary changes to realign the constituency boundaries to fit with the borough's most recent ward revisions resulted in the addition of Ketley (from the constituency of The Wrekin) for the 2010 general election.

Constituency profile

Workless claimants, registered jobseekers, were in November 2012 lower than the national average of 3.8%, at 3.1% of the population based on a statistical compilation by The Guardian.

Members of Parliament

Election		Member	Party
	1997	Bruce Grocott	Labour
	2001	David Wright	Labour
	2015	Lucy Allan	Conservative

Elections

Elections in the 2010s

General Election 2015: Telford

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Lucy Allan	16,094	39.6	+3.3
	Labour	David Wright	15,364	37.8	−0.9
	UKIP	Denis Allen	7,330	18.0	+12.2
	Green	Peter Hawkins	930	2.3	+2.3
	Liberal Democrat	Ian Croll	927	2.3	−13.2
Majority			730	1.8
Turnout			40,645	61.4
	Conservative gain from Labour		Swing	+2.1

General Election 2010: Telford

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	David Wright	15,977	38.7	−9.5
	Conservative	Tom Biggins	14,996	36.3	+3.2
	Liberal Democrat	Phillip Bennion	6,399	15.5	+1.4
	UKIP	Denis Allen	2,428	5.9	+1.2
	BNP	Phil Spencer	1,513	3.7	N/A
Majority			981	2.4
Turnout			41,313	63.5	+4.8
	Labour hold		Swing	−6.3

Elections in the 2000s

General Election 2005: Telford

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	David Wright	16,506	48.3	−6.3
	Conservative	Stella Kyriazis	11,100	32.5	+5.1
	Liberal Democrat	Ian Jenkins	4,941	14.4	+1.5
	UKIP	Tom McCartney	1,659	4.9	+1.3
Majority			5,406	15.8
Turnout			34,206	57.7	+5.7
	Labour hold		Swing	−5.7

General Election 2001: Telford

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	David Wright	16,854	54.6	−3.2
	Conservative	Andrew Douglas Henderson	8,471	27.4	0.0
	Liberal Democrat	Mrs. Sallyann Wiggin	3,983	12.9	+1.1
	UKIP	Miss Nicola Brookes	1,098	3.6	N/A
	Socialist Alliance	Michael Paul Jeffries	469	1.5	N/A
Majority			8,383	27.2
Turnout			30,875	52.0	−13.7
	Labour hold		Swing

Elections in the 1990s

General Election 1997: Telford

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Bruce Grocott	21,456	57.8	N/A
	Conservative	Bernard Gentry	10,166	27.4	N/A
	Liberal Democrat	Nathaniel Green	4,371	11.8	N/A
	Referendum	Christopher Morris	1,119	3.0	N/A
Majority			11,290	30.4	N/A
Turnout			37,112	65.6	N/A
	Labour win (new seat)

See also

• Parliamentary constituencies in Shropshire

Notes and references

Notes

References