| South West Norfolk County constituency |
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| South West Norfolk shown within Norfolk, and Norfolk shown within England | |
| Created: | 1885 |
| MP: | Christopher Fraser |
| Party: | Conservative |
| Type: | House of Commons |
| County: | Norfolk |
| EP constituency: | East of England |
South West Norfolk is a parliamentary constituency of the United Kingdom composed of the towns of Downham Market, Swaffham and Thetford in Norfolk.
Contents |
Boundaries
The current boundaries of South West Norfolk include Watton, Swaffham, Downham Market, Outwell, Upwell, Feltwell, and Attleborough. The seat includes part of King's Lynn and West Norfolk, and Breckland districts.
Following alterations to constituencies in Norfolk, South West Norfolk gains areas from neighbouring North West Norfolk including Walpole, Tilney St Lawrence, and Wiggenhall. It loses to Mid Norfolk areas including Great Ellingham, Watton, and Necton.
History
South West Norfolk has been held solidly by Conservatives since 1964 but for twenty years before then, it had been ultra-marginal. Labour first held it from 1929-31, and Sidney Dye won it for Labour in 1945 with a tiny majority of 53, holding it at the 1950 election by 260. He lost it to Denys Bullard in 1951 by 442 votes and won it back in 1955 with a majority of 193. Dye died at the end of 1958, and in the by-election Albert Hilton retained the seat for Labour by a margin of 1,354 votes. In the 1959 general election that soon followed, his majority was cut to 78.
Although Labour had held the seat during two Conservative national election victories, the Conservatives took the seat in the 1964 election, which Labour won nationally. Paul Hawkins and Gillian Shephard held the seat. Shephard's majority was slashed in the 1997 general election before recovering in the 2001 general election.
Shephard decided not to run for the 2005 general election. The Conservative Party selected Christopher Fraser, former MP for Mid Dorset and Poole North and he was elected with a majority of over 10,000.
On 28 May 2009, Fraser announced that he would be standing down at the next General Election citing family reasons.[1] This was after his expenses claims were highlighted in the Daily Telegraph; according to the newspaper, Fraser claimed £1,800 in public money for buying 215 trees and marking out the boundary of his second home in the constituency.[2]
Members of Parliament
| Election | Member | Party | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1885 | William Tyssen-Amherst | Conservative | |
| 1892 | Sir Thomas Leigh Hare | Conservative | |
| 1906 | Richard Winfrey | Liberal | |
| 1923 | Alan McLean | Conservative | |
| 1929 | William Benjamin Taylor | Labour | |
| 1931 | Alan McLean | Conservative | |
| 1935 | Somerset de Chair | Conservative | |
| 1945 | Sidney Dye | Labour | |
| 1951 | Denys Bullard | Conservative | |
| 1955 | Sidney Dye | Labour | |
| 1959 | Albert Hilton | Labour | |
| 1964 | Paul Hawkins | Conservative | |
| 1987 | Gillian Shephard | Conservative | |
| 2005 | Christopher Fraser | Conservative | |
Election results
| Next United Kingdom general election: South West Norfolk [3] | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
| UKIP | Delia Hall | ||||
| Labour | Peter Smith | ||||
| Conservative | Liz Truss | ||||
| Majority | |||||
Elections in the 2000s
| General Election 2005: South West Norfolk | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
| Conservative | Christopher Fraser | 25,881 | 46.9 | −5.3 | |
| Labour | Charmaine Morgan | 15,795 | 28.7 | −5.8 | |
| Liberal Democrat | April Pond | 10,207 | 18.5 | +7.8 | |
| UKIP | Delia Hall | 2,738 | 5.0 | +2.4 | |
| Independent | Kim Hayes | 506 | 0.9 | N/A | |
| Majority | 10,086 | 18.3 | |||
| Turnout | 55,127 | 62.5 | −0.6 | ||
| Conservative hold | Swing | +0.3 | |||
| General Election 2001: South West Norfolk | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
| Conservative | Gillian Shephard | 27,633 | 52.2 | +10.2 | |
| Labour | Anne Hanson | 18,267 | 34.5 | -3.3 | |
| Liberal Democrat | Gordon Dean | 5,681 | 10.7 | -3.2 | |
| UKIP | Ian Smith | 1,368 | 2.6 | N/A | |
| Majority | 9,366 | 17.7 | +13.5 | ||
| Turnout | 52,949 | 63.1 | -10.0 | ||
| Conservative hold | Swing | +6.7 | |||
Elections in the 1990s
| General Election 1997: South West Norfolk | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
| Conservative | Gillian Shephard | 24,694 | 42.0 | −12.6 | |
| Labour | Adrian Hefferman | 22,230 | 37.8 | +10.7 | |
| Liberal Democrat | David Bucton | 8,178 | 13.9 | −6.3 | |
| Referendum Party | R. Hoare | 3,694 | 6.3 | N/A | |
| Majority | 2,434 | 4.2 | −23.3 | ||
| Turnout | 73.1 | −6.2 | |||
| Conservative hold | Swing | −11.65 | |||
| General Election 1992: South West Norfolk | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
| Conservative | Gillian Shephard | 33,637 | 54.6 | ||
| Labour | Mary Page | 16,706 | 27.1 | ||
| Liberal Democrat | John Marsh | 11,237 | 18.2 | ||
| Majority | 16,931 | 27.5 | |||
| Turnout | 79.3 | ||||
| Conservative hold | Swing | ||||
References
See also
References
- Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs
- Richard Kimber's Political science Resources: UK General Elections since 1832
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