Plymouth Sutton (UK Parliament constituency)

Plymouth, Sutton
Former Borough constituency
for the House of Commons
Boundary of Plymouth, Sutton in Devon for the 2005 general election.
Location of Devon within England.
County	Devon
1918 (1918)–2010 (2010)
Number of members	One
Replaced by	Plymouth Moor View, Plymouth Sutton and Devonport

Plymouth, Sutton was, from 1918 until 2010, a borough constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elected one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first past the post system of election.

History

Plymouth Sutton covered parts of the city of Plymouth, in South West England, and was first contested at the 1918 general election. In a by-election in 1919, it became the second constituency in the UK (and the first in Great Britain) to elect a female MP: Nancy Astor became the first woman to take a seat in the House of Commons (the first female MP was the Sinn Féin member Constance Markievicz, who did not take her seat). Three of its MPs have been members of the Astor family. A more recent prominent MP was the flamboyant Conservative Alan Clark, who represented Plymouth Sutton from 1974 until 1992.

Abolition

Following a review of parliamentary representation in Devon by the Boundary Commission for England, constituencies in Plymouth have been reorganised, with both Plymouth Sutton and Plymouth Devonport being replaced by new constituencies of Plymouth Sutton and Devonport and Plymouth Moor View from 2010.

Boundaries

At the time of its abolition, the electoral wards making up the Plymouth Sutton seat were Compton, Devonport (part), Drake, Efford and Lipson, Ham (part), Peverell, St Peter and the Waterfront, Stoke (part), and Sutton and Mount Gould.

The 1997 boundary changes were superficially helpful to Labour in this constituency: what had been a safe Conservative seat became a marginal. However, in reality, the seat from 1997 onwards was closer in its wards to the previous marginal Plymouth Drake constituency than the Plymouth Sutton which had existed before 1997.

Members of Parliament

Election		Member	Party
	1918	Waldorf Astor	Conservative
	1919 by-election	Nancy Astor	Conservative
	1945	Lucy Middleton	Labour
	1951	Jakie Astor	Conservative
	1959	Ian Fraser	Conservative
	1966	David Owen	Labour
	Feb 1974	Alan Clark	Conservative
	1992	Gary Streeter	Conservative
	1997	Linda Gilroy	Labour Co-operative
	2010	Constituency abolished: see Plymouth Moor View and Plymouth Sutton and Devonport

Elections

Elections in the 2000s

General Election 2005: Plymouth, Sutton
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour Co-op	Linda Gilroy	15,497	40.6	−10.1
	Conservative	Oliver Colvile	11,388	29.8	−1.7
	Liberal Democrat	Karen Gillard	8,685	22.7	+8.4
	UKIP	Robert Cumming	2,392	6.3	+3.8
	Socialist Labour	Rob Hawkins	230	0.6	−0.3
Majority			4,109	10.8	−8.4
Turnout			38,192	56.8	−0.3
	Labour Co-op hold		Swing	−4.2

General Election 2001: Plymouth, Sutton
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour Co-op	Linda Gilroy	19,827	50.7	+0.6
	Conservative	Oliver Colvile	12,310	31.5	+1.2
	Liberal Democrat	Alan Connett	5,605	14.3	+0.5
	UKIP	Alan Whitton	970	2.5	+1.4
	Socialist Labour	Henry Leary	361	0.9	N/A
Majority			7,517	19.2	−0.6
Turnout			39,073	57.1	−10.3
	Labour Co-op hold		Swing	−0.3

Elections in the 1990s

General Election 1997: Plymouth Sutton
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour Co-op	Linda Gilroy	23,881	50.1	+11.3
	Conservative	A Crisp	14,441	30.3	−11.5
	Liberal Democrat	S Melia	6,613	13.9	+0.7
	Referendum Party	T Hanbury	1,654	3.5
	UKIP	R Bullock	499	1.1
	Independent	K Kelway	396	0.8
	Natural Law	F Lyons	168	0.4	−0.1
Majority			9,440	19.8	+17.8
Turnout			47,650	67.4
	Labour gain from Conservative		Swing	11.4

General Election 1992: Plymouth Sutton
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Gary Streeter	27,070	49.5	+3.7
	Labour	A Pawley	15,120	27.6	+11.2
	Liberal Democrat	JP Brett-Freeman	12,291	22.5	−15.4
	Natural Law	JJ Bowler	256	0.5	+0.5
Majority			11,950	21.8	+13.9
Turnout			54,737	81.2	+2.2
	Conservative hold		Swing	−3.8

Elections in the 1980s

General Election 1987: Plymouth Sutton
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Alan Clark	23,187	45.76
	SDP–Liberal Alliance	B Tidy	19,174	37.84
	Labour	RD Maddern	8,310	16.4
Majority			4,013	7.92
Turnout			50,674	79.03

General Election 1983: Plymouth Sutton
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Alan Clark	25,203	55.12
	SDP–Liberal Alliance	A Puttick	13,516	29.56
	Labour	Frances Holland	6,358	14.3
	Ecology	S Shaw	470	1.03
Majority			11,687	25.56
Turnout			45,726	76.35

Elections in the 1970s

General Election 1979: Plymouth Sutton
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Alan Clark	28,892	54.8
	Labour	JG Priestley	17,605	33.39
	Liberal	J Scannell	6,226	11.81
Majority			11,287	21.41
Turnout			52,723	76.95

General Election October 1974: Plymouth Sutton
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Alan Clark	20,457	44.61
	Labour	JG Priestly	15,269	33.3
	Liberal	S Banks	10,131	22.09
Majority			5,188	11.31
Turnout			45,858	75.17

General Election February 1974: Plymouth Sutton
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Alan Clark	21,649	45.22
	Labour	BW Fletcher	13,545	28.29
	Liberal	S Banks	12,683	26.49
Majority			8,104	16.93
Turnout			47,876	79.07

Elections in the 1910s

Plymouth Sutton by-election, 1919
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Coalition Conservative	Lady Astor	14,495
	Labour	W.T. Gay	9,292
	Liberal	Isaac Foot	4,139
Majority			5,203
Turnout
	Coalition Conservative hold		Swing

General Election 1918: Plymouth Sutton
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Coalition Conservative	Waldorf Astor	17,091		N/A
	Labour	W.T. Gay	5,334		N/A
	Liberal	Capt. S. Ransom	3,488		N/A
Majority			11,757
Turnout				59.6	N/A
	Conservative hold		Swing	N/A

See also

• List of Parliamentary constituencies in Devon

Sources

• Craig, F. W. S. (1983) [1969]. British parliamentary election results 1918-1949 (3rd edition ed.). Chichester: Parliamentary Research Services. ISBN 0-900178-06-X.