South Thanet (UK Parliament constituency)

South Thanet
County constituency
for the House of Commons
Boundary of South Thanet in Kent.
Location of Kent within England.
County	Kent
Electorate	67,970 (December 2010)
Current constituency
Created	1983 (1983)
Member of Parliament	Laura Sandys (Conservative)
Number of members	One
Created from	Thanet West, Thanet East
Overlaps
European Parliament constituency	South East England

South Thanet 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.

South Thanet and North Thanet were created by a rearrangement of the former Thanet West and Thanet East constituencies in 1983, which in turn had been created in 1974 by the splitting of the single Isle of Thanet seat.

Boundaries

South Thanet consists of the southern part of Thanet district (the towns of Ramsgate and Broadstairs & St Peters, plus the villages of Cliffsend, Manston, Minster and Monkton) together with the northern part of Dover district, comprising the ancient Cinque Port of Sandwich and surrounding villages.

Boundary review

Following their review of parliamentary representation in Kent, the Boundary Commission for England has made major changes to the existing constituency arrangement as a consequence of population changes across the county.

The electoral wards used in the formation of the modified constituency are:

• Little Stour and Ashstone, and Sandwich from the district of Dover
• Beacon Road, Bradstowe, Central Harbour, Cliffsend and Pegwell, Cliftonville East, Cliftonville West, Eastcliff, Kingsgate, Nethercourt, Newington, Northwood, St Peters, Sir Moses Montefiore and Viking from the district of Thanet.

Members of Parliament

Election		Member	Party
	1983	Jonathan Aitken	Conservative
	1997	Stephen Ladyman	Labour
	2010	Laura Sandys	Conservative

Elections

Elections in the 2010s

General Election 2010 : South Thanet
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Laura Sandys	22,043	48.0	+6.8
	Labour	Stephen Ladyman	14,426	31.4	-8.1
	Liberal Democrat	Peter Bucklitsch	6,935	15.1	+2.9
	UKIP	Trevor Shonk	2,529	5.5	+0.7
Majority			7617	16.6
Turnout			45,933	65.3	0.2
	Conservative hold		Swing	+7.4

Elections in the 2000s

General Election 2005: South Thanet
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Stephen Ladyman	16,660	40.4	-5.3
	Conservative	Mark MacGregor	15,996	38.8	-2.3
	Liberal Democrat	Guy Voizey	5,431	13.2	+3.8
	UKIP	Nigel Farage	2,079	5.0	+3.7
	Green	Howard Green	888	2.2	+2.2
	Independent	Maude Kinsella	188	0.5	+0.5
Majority			664	1.6
Turnout			41,242	65	1.1
	Labour hold		Swing	-1.5

General Election 2001: South Thanet
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Stephen Ladyman	18,002	45.7	-0.5
	Conservative	Mark MacGregor	16,210	41.1	+1.3
	Liberal Democrat	Guy Voizey	3,706	9.4	-2.3
	Independent	William Baldwin	770	2.0	N/A
	UKIP	Terry Eccott	502	1.3	-0.1
	National Front	Bernard Franklin	242	0.6	N/A
Majority			1,792	4.6
Turnout			39,432	63.9	-7.7
	Labour hold		Swing

Elections in the 1990s

General Election 1997: South Thanet
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Stephen Ladyman	20,777	46.2	-
	Conservative	Jonathan Aitken	17,899	39.8%
	Liberal Democrat	Barbara Hewitt-Silk	5,263	11.7%
	Independent	C Crook	631	1.4
	Green	D Wheatley	418	0.9%
Majority			2,878
Turnout				71.6%
	Labour gain from Conservative		Swing

General Election 1992: South Thanet
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Jonathan Aitken	25,253	51.7	−2.6
	Labour	MS James	13,740	28.1	+7.2
	Liberal Democrat	Bill Pitt	8,948	18.3	−6.4
	Green	Ms. S Peckham	871	1.8	N/A
Majority			11,513	23.6	−6.0
Turnout			48,812	78.2	+4.5
	Conservative hold		Swing	−4.9

See also

• List of Parliamentary constituencies in Kent