South West Surrey (UK Parliament constituency)

South West Surrey
County constituency
for the House of Commons
Boundary of South West Surrey in Surrey.
Location of Surrey within England.
County	Surrey
Electorate	76,495 (December 2010)
Major settlements	Farnham, Godalming and Haslemere
Current constituency
Created	1983 (1983)
Member of Parliament	Jeremy Hunt (Conservative)
Number of members	One
Created from	Farnham
Overlaps
European Parliament constituency	South East England

South West Surrey 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

It covers the Waverley district of Surrey, including the towns of Farnham, Godalming and Haslemere.

The Boundary Commission has made its final recommendations for boundary changes in Surrey. Proposed changes to South West Surrey would see the relignment of the boundary with Guildford in order to bring it in line with the recent adjustment of local government wards. Guildford's electorate is the largest of the county and the review aims to reduce it. Two wards are currently split between the two constituencies: Bramley, Busbridge and Hascombe, which will be placed entirely in South West Surrey; and Alfold, Cranleigh Rural and Ellens Green which will be placed entirely in Guildford. The net effect is to increase the number of voters in South West Surrey and reduce the number in Guildford.

A public review was called, dealing primarily with objections to transferring Bramley to South West Surrey. Many petitioned to argue that the village's links, especially transport, are mainly with Guildford rather than the towns of Godalming and Farnham. The precedent of the previous review was cited, when a proposal to move Bramley out of Guildford and into Mole Valley was rejected after local opposition. However the review felt that this did not justify splitting the ward (something the Boundary Commission seeks to avoid completely) and that the other parts of the ward had strong links to Godalming. Furthermore it cited the point that in the previous review Bramley Parish Council had stated that if it were to be moved it would prefer to be moved to South West Surrey and thus argued that the previous objection was not strong enough.

History

The constituency was created in 1983, largely replacing the former seat of Farnham. It has been consistently won by the Conservative Party, though the majority dropped to a mere 861 votes in 2001, leaving it the Liberal Democrat's third target constituency by swing required. Since then, however, the Conservative majority has substantially increased, exceeding 16,000 in 2010.

Members of Parliament

Election		Member	Party
	1983	Maurice Macmillan	Conservative
	1984 by-election	Virginia Bottomley	Conservative
	2005	Jeremy Hunt	Conservative

Elections

Elections in the 2010s

General Election 2010: South West Surrey
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Jeremy Hunt	33,605	58.7	+8.1
	Liberal Democrat	Mike Simpson	17,287	30.2	-9.2
	Labour	Richard Mollet	3,419	6.0	-1.9
	UKIP	Roger Meekins	1,486	2.6	+0.8
	Green	Cherry Allan	690	1.2	+1.2
	BNP	Helen Hamilton	644	1.1	+1.1
	Pirate	Luke Leighton	94	0.2	+0.2
	Independent	Arthur Price	34	0.1	+0.1
Majority			16,318	28.5
Turnout			57,259	73.4	+3.4
	Conservative hold		Swing	+8.6

Elections in the 2000s

General Election 2005: South West Surrey
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Jeremy Hunt	26,420	50.4	+5.1
	Liberal Democrat	Simon Cordon	20,709	39.5	-4.1
	Labour	Tom Sleigh	4,150	7.9	-0.8
	UKIP	Timothy Clark	958	1.8	-0.6
	Veritas	Glenn Platt	172	0.3	N/A
Majority			5,711	10.9
Turnout			52,409	71.8	+1.5
	Conservative hold		Swing	+4.6

General Election 2001: South West Surrey
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Virginia Bottomley	22,462	45.3	+0.7
	Liberal Democrat	Simon Cordon	21,601	43.6	+3.8
	Labour	Martin Whelton	4,321	8.7	-0.7
	UKIP	Timothy Clark	1,208	2.4	+1.7
Majority			861	1.7
Turnout			49,592	70.3	-7.2
	Conservative hold		Swing	-1.6

Elections in the 1990s

General Election 1997: South West Surrey
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Virginia Bottomley	25,165	44.6	-13.9
	Liberal Democrat	Neil Sherlock	22,471	39.8	+6.3
	Labour	Margaret Leicester	5,333	9.4	+3.0
	Referendum Party	Judith Clementson	2,830	5.0	N/A
	UKIP	James Kirby	401	0.7	N/A
	ProLife Alliance	Josephine Quintavalle	258	0.5	N/A
Majority			2,694	4.8
Turnout			56,458	77.5
	Conservative hold		Swing	-10.1

This constituency underwent boundary changes between the 1992 and 1997 general elections and thus change in share of vote is based on a notional calculation.

General Election 1992: South West Surrey
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Virginia Bottomley	35,008	58.5	-1.0
	Liberal Democrat	Neil Sherlock	20,033	33.5	-0.9
	Labour	Phil Kelly	3,840	6.4	+0.6
	Green	N Bedrock	710	1.2	N/A
	Natural Law	K Campbell	147	0.3	N/A
	Anglo-Saxon	D Newman	98	0.2	N/A
Majority			14,975	25.0	−0.1
Turnout			59,836	82.8	+4.4
	Conservative hold		Swing	-0.1

Elections in the 1980s

General Election 1987: South West Surrey
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Virginia Bottomley	34,024	59.5	-0.2
	Liberal	Gavin Scott	19,681	34.4	+2.3
	Labour	J K P Evers	3,224	5.6	-2.6
	Independent Conservative	M J Green	299	0.5	N/A
Majority			14,343	25.1
Turnout			57,228	78.4	+3.9
	Conservative hold		Swing	-1.3

By-Election 1984: South West Surrey
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Virginia Bottomley	21,545	49.3	-10.4
	Liberal	Gavin Scott	18,946	43.4	+11.3
	Labour	Barbara Roche	2,949	6.7	-1.5
	Pro-Holocaust Masturbation Freedom	Victor Litvin	117	0.3	N/A
	Death off Roads: Freight on Rail	Helen Anscomb	82	0.2	N/A
	Votes for a full hearing	Peter Smith	29	0.1	N/A
Majority			2,599	5.9
Turnout			43,668	61.7	-12.8
	Conservative hold		Swing	-10.9

General Election 1983: South West Surrey
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Maurice Macmillan	31,067	59.7
	Liberal	Gavin Scott	16,716	32.1
	Labour	S E D Williams	4,239	8.2
Majority			14,351	27.6
Turnout			52,022	74.5
	New creation: Conservative gain.		Swing	N/A

See also

• South West Surrey by-election, 1984
• List of Parliamentary constituencies in Surrey

Sources

• Election result, 2005 (BBC)
• Election results, 1997 - 2001 (BBC)
• Election results, 1997 - 2001 (Election Demon)
• Election results, 1983 - 1992 (Election Demon)
• Election results, 1992 - 2010 (Guardian)
• By-election result, 1984
• UK Constituency Maps