Gedling (UK Parliament constituency)

Gedling
County constituency
for the House of Commons
Boundary of Gedling in Nottinghamshire.
Location of Nottinghamshire within England.
County	Nottinghamshire
Electorate	70,886 (December 2010)
Current constituency
Created	1983 (1983)
Member of Parliament	Vernon Coaker (Labour)
Number of members	One
Created from	Carlton
Overlaps
European Parliament constituency	East Midlands

Gedling is a county constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elects one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first past the post system of election.

Boundaries

Part of the Greater Nottingham area, the constituency covers the most populated parts of the borough of Gedling, covering the mainly affluent north eastern suburbs of the Nottingham area including Arnold, Burton Joyce, Carlton, Colwick and Gedling village Woodthorpe and Mapperley Plains.

It is a mostly middle-class residential area, with similar characteristics to the nearby Broxtowe constituency, on the opposite side of Nottingham.^{[citation needed]}

The constituency is one of contrasts, Arnold itself along with its smaller neighbour of Daybrook are Labour, the surrounding suburbs of Woodthorpe, Kingswell and Mapperley are staunchly Conservative. The Liberal Democrats are active in the southern parts of the constituency, representing seats on Gedling Borough Council for parts of Carlton and Gedling village.^{[citation needed]}

Boundary review

Following their review of parliamentary boundaries in Nottinghamshire, the Boundary Commission for England made only minor changes to the existing constituencies to allow for population changes. The boundaries of the modified constituency fought at the 2010 general election until further notice are:

• From the Borough of Gedling - Bonington, Burton Joyce and Stoke Bardolph, Carlton, Carlton Hill, Daybrook, Gedling, Killisick, Kingswell, Mapperley Plains, Netherfield and Colwick, Phoenix, Porchester, St James, St Marys, Valley, and Woodthorpe.

History

The constituency of Gedling was created in 1983, replacing the earlier Carlton constituency. Until 1997, it was thought of as a safe seat for the Conservative Party, being represented by the former Carlton MP Sir Philip Holland until 1987, then by Andrew Mitchell, the son of former Conservative MP David Mitchell. The seat was gained by the Labour Party in their landslide victory at the 1997 general election. In that election, Mitchell (by then a junior minister) lost to Labour's Vernon Coaker, who has held the seat since then.

It is now considered to be a marginal constituency, fought between Labour and the Conservatives. In the 2005 general election, the Conservative candidate Anna Soubry (who was elected MP for nearby Broxtowe at the 2010 general election) caused controversy by revealing that she "was not proud" of the area she was intending to represent, referring to crime levels in the Nottingham area. The subsequent swing from Labour to Conservative was only 2.1% compared with the national swing of 3.1%.

Members of Parliament

Election		Member	Party
	1983	Sir Philip Holland	Conservative
	1987	Andrew Mitchell	Conservative
	1997	Vernon Coaker	Labour

Elections

Elections in the 2010s

General Election 2010: Gedling
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Vernon Coaker	19,821	41.1	-5.5
	Conservative	Bruce Laughton	17,962	37.3	+0.3
	Liberal Democrat	Julia Bateman	7,350	15.3	+1.5
	BNP	Stephen Adcock	1,598	3.3	+3.3
	UKIP	David Marshall	1,459	3.0	+1.3
Majority			1,859	3.9
Turnout			48,190	67.9	+4.0
	Labour hold		Swing	-2.9

Electiobs in the 2000s

General Election 2005: Gedling
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Vernon Coaker	20,329	46.1	−5.0
	Conservative	Anna Soubry	16,518	37.5	−0.8
	Liberal Democrat	Raymond Poynter	6,070	13.8	+3.2
	UKIP	Alan Margerison	741	1.7	N/A
	Veritas	Deborah Johnson	411	0.9	N/A
Majority			3,811	8.6
Turnout			44,069	63.9	0.0
	Labour hold		Swing	-2.1

General Election 2001: Gedling
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Vernon Coaker	22,383	51.1	+4.3
	Conservative	Jonathan Bullock	16,785	38.3	-1.2
	Liberal Democrat	Tony Gillam	4,648	10.6	+0.7
Majority			5,598	12.8
Turnout			43,816	63.9	-11.8
	Labour hold		Swing	2.75

Elections in the 1990s

General Election 1997: Gedling
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Vernon Coaker	24,390	46.8	+12.4
	Conservative	Andrew Mitchell	20,588	39.5	-13.7
	Liberal Democrat	Raymond Poynter	5,180	9.9	-2.2
	Referendum Party	J Connor	2,006	3.9	+3.9
Majority			3,802	7.3
Turnout			52,164	75.7	0.0
	Labour gain from Conservative		Swing	+13.1

General Election 1992: Gedling
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Andrew Mitchell	30,191	53.2	-1.3
	Labour	Vernon Coaker	19,554	34.4	+10.5
	Liberal Democrat	DG George	6,863	12.1	-9.5
	Natural Law	Ms. AKL Miszeweka	168	0.3	+0.3
Majority			10,637	18.7	-11.8
Turnout			56,776	82.3	+3.2
	Conservative hold		Swing	-5.9

See also

• List of Parliamentary constituencies in Nottinghamshire