| Penrith and the Border County constituency |
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| Penrith and the Border shown within Cumbria, and Cumbria shown within England | |
| Created: | 1950 |
| MP: | David Maclean |
| Party: | Conservative |
| Type: | House of Commons |
| County: | Cumbria |
| EP constituency: | North West England |
Penrith and The Border is a county constituency of the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It is represented by one Member of Parliament (MP) elected by the first past the post system of election.
The constituency was created in 1950 by merging part of Penrith and Cockermouth with North Cumberland. The constituency was enlarged in the 1980s by taking first most of the northern part of the former Westmorland constituency and later the Kirkby Stephen/Tebay area of the Westmorland and Lonsdale constituency.
In the 1990s a small part of Penrith and The Border was transferred to the Carlisle borough constituency.
Contents |
Boundaries
The constituency corresponds to the Eden district, along with parts of the City of Carlisle district outside Carlisle itself and a small part of Allerdale borough around the town of Wigton.
Penrith and The Border is the largest constituency by area in England. Despite the name it only includes part of the English border with Scotland. The neighbouring constituency of Hexham (together with Berwick-upon-Tweed) also takes in the border area. The name stems from the fact that when the constituency was first created it consisted of the Penrith Rural and Urban Districts, the Border Rural District and also the Alston with Garrigill Rural District
Boundary review
Following their review of parliamentary representation in Cumbria, the Boundary Commission for England have created a modified Penrith seat to reflect population changes.
The electoral wards used in the creation of this seat, to be fought for the first time at the
- The entire district of Eden
- Brampton, Great Corby and Geltsdale, Hayton, Irthing, Longtown and Rockcliffe, Lyne and Stanwix Rural from Carlisle
- Warnell, and Wigton from Allerdale
Members of Parliament
The seat was represented for nearly three decades by William Whitelaw, who served as a cabinet minister in various capacities during Conservative governments of the 1970s and 1980s and later joined the House of Lords. His successor and the current Conservative MP, David Maclean, has announced he is standing down at the next general election due to the state of his health - he was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 1996.
| Election | Member | Party | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1950 | Robert Scott | Conservative | |
| 1955 | William Whitelaw | Conservative | |
| 1983 by-election | David Maclean | Conservative | |
Election results
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Labour | Barbara Cannon | ||||
| Liberal Democrat | Kate Clarkson | ||||
| UKIP | Bill Robinson | ||||
| Conservative | Rory Stewart | ||||
Elections in the 2000s
| General Election 2005: Penrith and The Border | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
| Conservative | David Maclean | 24,046 | 51.3 | –3.6 | |
| Liberal Democrat | Geyve Walker | 12,142 | 25.9 | +4.1 | |
| Labour | Michael Boaden | 8,958 | 19.1 | +0.6 | |
| UKIP | William Robinson | 1,187 | 2.5 | +0.4 | |
| Legalise Cannabis | Mark Gibson | 549 | 1.2 | –0.8 | |
| Majority | 11,904 | 25.4 | |||
| Turnout | 46,882 | 66.1 | +1.6 | ||
| Conservative hold | Swing | –3.9 | |||
| General Election 2001: Penrith and The Border | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
| Conservative | David Maclean | 24,302 | 54.9 | +7.3 | |
| Liberal Democrat | Geyve Walker | 9,625 | 21.8 | –4.9 | |
| Labour | Michael Boaden | 8,177 | 18.5 | –3.1 | |
| UKIP | Thomas Lowther | 938 | 2.1 | N/A | |
| Legalise Cannabis | Mark Gibson | 870 | 2.0 | N/A | |
| Independent (politician) | John Moffat | 337 | 0.8 | N/A | |
| Majority | 14,677 | 33.1 | |||
| Turnout | 44,249 | 64.5 | –9.1 | ||
| Conservative hold | Swing | ||||
Elections in the 1980s
| Penrith and The Border by-election, 28 July 1983 | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
| Conservative | David Maclean | 17,530 | 46.0 | –12.8 | |
| SDP-Liberal Alliance | Michael Young | 16,978 | 44.6 | +16.7 | |
| Labour | Lindsay Williams | 2,834 | 7.4 | –5.8 | |
| Monster Raving Loony | David Sutch | 412 | 1.1 | N/A | |
| Retired Naval Officer | Eric Morgan | 150 | 0.4 | N/A | |
| Death off Roads: Freight on Rail | Helen Anscomb | 72 | 0.2 | N/A | |
| Independent Socialist | John Connell | 69 | 0.2 | N/A | |
| New Britain | Peter Smith | 35 | 0.1 | N/A | |
| Majority | 552 | 1.4 | –29.5 | ||
| Turnout | 38,080 | 55.9 | –17.2 | ||
| Conservative hold | Swing | –14.8 | |||
| General Election 1983: Penrith and The Border | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
| Conservative | William Whitelaw | 29,304 | 58.8 | –2.4 | |
| SDP-Liberal Alliance | Michael Young | 13,883 | 27.9 | +11.4 | |
| Labour | W Williams | 6,612 | 13.3 | –9.1 | |
| Majority | 15,421 | 30.1 | –8.7 | ||
| Turnout | 49,799 | 73.1 | –3.9 | ||
| Conservative hold | Swing | ||||
See also
References
- ^ Penrith and The Border UKPolling
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