Bath (UK Parliament constituency)
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| County constituency | |
|---|---|
|
| |
| Bath shown within Avon, and Avon shown within England | |
| Created: | 1295 |
| MP: | Don Foster |
| Party: | Liberal Democrat |
| Type: | House of Commons |
| County: | Somerset |
| EP constituency: | South West England |
Contents
Boundaries
The constituency includes the city of Bath, and has done so for over two centuries. Since 1995, the constituency now includes a further five village wards and 7000 voters transferred from the Wansdyke constituency.Boundary review
Following their review of the constituencies in the former county of Avon the Boundary Commission for England has recommended that the constituency contract back to the city of Bath, and this will probably be agreed before the next general election.The electoral wards which make up the re-created Bath constituency are;
- Abbey, Bathwick, Combe Down, Kingsmead, Lambridge, Lansdown, Lyncombe, Newbridge, Odd Down, Oldfield, Southdown, Twerton, Walcot, Westmoreland, Weston and Widcombe.
History
Before the Reform Act of 1832 Bath had received writs to select representatives to parliament. It had been invited before the seventeenth century, but was certainly present on the list of constituencies from the seventeenth century until the Reform Act along with Bridgwater, Ilchester, Milborne Port, Minehead, Taunton and Wells in Somerset. Bath was able to, along with the others, send 2 constituents to parliament. Each constituency chose its own method of choosing the candidates during this time, in Bath the Mayor, Aldermen and Common Councillors chose the candidate in public. This practiced continued until the Ballot Act of 1872 determined that this should be done in private to resist bribery. It was one of the few Somerset constituencies to survive the nineteenth century reforms to this time, along with Taunton. An Act of 1884 extended the selection of the candidate to all men over 21. Bath had been a county borough as established by the Local Government Act of 1888. While Bath constantly remained a constituency, one of the oldest in the country, Taunton lost its status in 1918 and became part of a county constituency.Though a Conservative seat for much of the 20th century it was not considered safe. In 1966, Labour had come just 800 votes from taking the seat. The SDP, second for most of the 1980s, came just 1500 votes from winning in 1987 under Malcolm Dean. In 1992, Conservative Chris Patten was ousted by Don Foster. The Liberal Democrats' majority has grown since, though most of this growth was lost in 2005 in part due the Liberal Democrat dominated local authority being blamed by many voters for the large cost over-run and delays with the Thermae Bath Spa project. In 1995, the constituency was expanded from just the city to include five further village wards and 7000 Wansdyke voters.
Members of Parliament
The current Member of Parliament is Don Foster of the Liberal Democrats, who was elected in the 1992 general election. He famously succeeded Chris Patten, the then Conservative Party chairman. Patten's party had held the seat for several decades, fending off close calls and challenges by Labour, the SDP and the Liberal Democrats since before the 1960s.- Constituency created (1295)
- Representation reduced to one (1918)
- 1918 — 1923: Charles Talbot Foxcroft, Conservative
- 1923 — 1924: Frank Raffety, Liberal
- 1924 — 1929: Charles Talbot Foxcroft, Conservative
- 1929 — 1931: Charles William Baillie-Hamilton
- 1931 — 1945: Thomas Loel Evelyn Bulkeley Guinness, Conservative
- 1945 — 1964: Sir James Pitman, Conservative
- 1964 — 1979: Sir Edward Brown, Conservative
- 1979 — 1992: Chris Patten, Conservative
- 1992 — present: Don Foster, Liberal Democrat
Elections
Elections in the 2000s
- General election of 2005
- General election of 2001
Elections in the 1990s
- General election of 1997
- General election of 1992
See also
References
External link
| Constituencies in South West England | |
|---|---|
| Conservative | Bournemouth East | Bournemouth West | Bridgwater | Christchurch | Cotswold | Devizes | East Devon | Forest of Dean | North Dorset | North Wiltshire | Poole | Salisbury | South West Devon | Tewkesbury | Tiverton and Honiton | Torridge and West Devon | Totnes | Wells | West Dorset | Westbury | Weston-super-Mare | Woodspring |
| Liberal Democrat | Bath | Bristol West | Cheltenham | Falmouth and Camborne | Mid Dorset and North Poole | North Cornwall | North Devon | Northavon | Somerton and Frome | South East Cornwall | St Ives | Taunton | Teignbridge | Torbay | Truro and St Austell | Yeovil |
| Labour | Bristol East | Bristol North West | Bristol South | Exeter | Gloucester | Kingswood | North Swindon | Plymouth, Devonport | Plymouth, Sutton | South Dorset | South Swindon | Stroud | Wansdyke |
| South West European constituency: Conservative (3) | UKIP (2) | Liberal Democrats (1) | Labour (1) | |
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