Westminster North (UK Parliament constituency)

Westminster North
Borough constituency
for the House of Commons
Boundary of Westminster North in Greater London.
County	Greater London
Electorate	65,936 (December 2010)
Current constituency
Created	2010 (2010)
Member of Parliament	Karen Buck (Labour)
Number of members	One
Created from	Cities of London & Westminster and Regent's Park & Kensington North
1983 (1983)–1997 (1997)
Number of members	One
Replaced by	Cities of London & Westminster and Regent's Park & Kensington North
Created from	Paddington and St Marylebone
Overlaps
European Parliament constituency	London

Westminster North is a UK Parliamentary constituency in Central London and west London, comprising the northern part of the City of Westminster. It existed from 1983 to 1997. It was re-created by the Boundary Commission for England and was first contested at the 2010 general election.

Boundaries

Following their review of parliamentary representation in North London, the Boundary Commission for England re-created the Westminster North seat for the 2010 general election from parts of the Cities of London and Westminster and Regent's Park and Kensington North constituencies.

The electoral wards used to form the re-created seat are:

• Abbey Road; Bayswater; Church Street; Harrow Road; Lancaster Gate; Little Venice; Maida Vale; Queen's Park; Regent's Park; Westbourne.

The 1983-97 constituency consisted of the electoral wards of:

• Bayswater; Church Street; Hamilton Terrace; Harrow Road; Lancaster Gate; Little Venice; Lords; Maida Vale; Queen's Park; Regent's Park; Westbourne.

Constituency Profile

Comprising the Northern part of the City of Westminster, this seat (and its predecessor) has been a Conservative hope since they lost it in the 1997 General Election, but Labour have stubbornly held on, even though the constituency contains some affluent residential areas that have historically voted Conservative in large numbers such as Bayswater and the area around Regent's Park.

Lords Cricket Ground and the famous Abbey Road Studios are also within the seat, while the Westbourne Park and Harrow Road areas, further from central London are more socially mixed, and generally elect Labour councillors, though most parts of the seat are Conservative in local elections, making Karen Buck's resilience as MP all the more remarkable.

Results

General Election 2010: Westminster North
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Karen Buck*	17,377	43.9	+4.0
	Conservative	Joanne Cash	15,251	38.5	+5.2
	Liberal Democrat	Mark Blackburn	5,513	13.9	−5.7
	Green	Tristan Smith	478	1.2	−3.5
	BNP	Stephen Curry	334	0.8	N/A
	UKIP	Jasna Badzak	315	0.8	−0.4
	Independent	Ali Bahaijoub	101	0.3	N/A
	English Democrats	Edward Roseman	99	0.3	N/A
	Christian	Gabriela Fajardo	98	0.2	N/A
	Independent	Abby Jan Dharamsey	32	0.1	N/A
Majority			2,126	5.4
Turnout			39,598	59.3	+8.5
	Labour hold		Swing

* Served as an MP in the 2005–2010 Parliament

Members of Parliament

Election		Member	Party
	1983	John Wheeler	Conservative
1997		constituency abolished
	2010	Karen Buck	Labour

See also

• Kensington (UK Parliament constituency)
• Cities of London and Westminster (UK Parliament constituency)
• Constituencies in the next United Kingdom general election