North Somerset (UK Parliament constituency)

North Somerset
County constituency
for the House of Commons
Boundary of North Somerset in Avon for the 2010 general election.
Location of Avon within England.
County	Somerset
Electorate	78,223 (December 2010)
Current constituency
Created	2010 (2010)
Member of Parliament	Liam Fox (Conservative)
Number of members	One
Created from	Woodspring
1950 (1950)–1983 (1983)
Replaced by	Woodspring
1885 (1885)–1918 (1918)
Overlaps
European Parliament constituency	South West England

North Somerset 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. This seat replaced Woodspring at the 2010 general election.

Constituencies of the same name previously existed between 1885–1918 and 1950-1983.

The seat is currently represented by Dr Liam Fox, former Secretary of State for Defence.

Boundaries

Following the review of parliamentary representation in the North Somerset district by the Boundary Commission for England, the former Woodspring constituency has been renamed as North Somerset, and subject only to minor boundary changes.

The electoral wards used to form this constituency are:

• Backwell, Clevedon Central, Clevedon East, Clevedon North, Clevedon South, Clevedon Walton, Clevedon West, Clevedon Yeo, Easton in Gordano, Gordano, Nailsea East, Nailsea North and West, Pill, Portishead Central, Portishead Coast, Portishead East, Portishead Redcliffe Bay, Portishead South and North Weston, Portishead West, Winford, Wraxall and Long Ashton, Wrington, and Yatton.

History

A previous constituency of the same name was created for the 1885 general election, and abolished for the 1918 general election. It was re-established for the 1950 general election, and abolished again for the 1983 general election.

Constituency profile

This is essentially the old Woodspring seat with a new name. A coastal strip between the Severn Estuary and the M5 motorway includes the towns of Clevedon and Portishead, while inland from the motorway is the town of Nailsea and a predominantly rural area dotted with villages. This is a fairly affluent constituency with about a third of the population commuting to work, mostly in Bristol and Bath. The old seat returned Conservative MPs; Dr Fox won the new constituency by nearly 15 percentage points over the Liberal Democrats in 2010.

Members of Parliament

MPs 1885–1918

Election		Member	Party
	1885	Evan Henry Llewellyn	Conservative
	1892	Courtenay Warner	Liberal
	1895	Evan Henry Llewellyn	Conservative
	1906	William Henry Bateman Hope	Liberal
	January 1910	Joseph King	Liberal
	1918	constituency abolished

MPs 1950–1983

Election		Member	Party
1950		constituency recreated
	1950	Sir Ted Leather	Conservative
	1964	Sir Paul Dean	Conservative
	1983	constituency abolished: see Woodspring

MPs since 2010

Election		Member	Party
	2010	Liam Fox	Conservative

Elections

Elections in the 2010s

General Election 2010: North Somerset
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Liam Fox	28,549	49.3	+7.5
	Liberal Democrat	Brian Mathew	20,687	35.7	+5.5
	Labour	Steve Parry-Hearn	6,448	11.1	-10.6
	UKIP	Sue Taylor	2,257	3.9	+1.4
Majority			7,862	13.6
Turnout			57,941	75.0	+3.2
	Conservative hold		Swing	+1.0

See also

• List of Parliamentary constituencies in Avon