Yeovil (UK Parliament constituency)

Yeovil
County constituency
for the House of Commons
Boundary of Yeovil in Somerset.
Location of Somerset within England.
County	Somerset
Electorate	82,771 (December 2010)
Current constituency
Created	1918 (1918)
Member of Parliament	David Laws (Liberal Democrat)
Number of members	One
Overlaps
European Parliament constituency	South West England

Yeovil 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

The constituency covers the towns of Yeovil, Chard, Crewkerne and Ilminster in Somerset. Until 1983 Somerset was split into four constituencies and Yeovil constitency also contained the towns of Ilchester, Martock and Somerton but they were transferred to the newly created constituency of Somerton and Frome.

As part of minor changes implemented following the review by the Boundary Commission for England, the town of Ilchester was returned to the Yeovil constituency at the 2010 general election.

History

From 1918 until 1983, Yeovil always returned a Conservative MP. However since then the seat has always been held by a member of the Liberal Party or their successors, the Liberal Democrats: firstly former leader Paddy Ashdown (1983–2001) and then former Chief Secretary to the Treasury David Laws (2001 onwards).

Members of Parliament

Election		Member	Party
	1918	Aubrey Herbert	Conservative
	1923	George Davies	Conservative
	1945	William Kingsmill	Conservative
	1951	John Peyton	Conservative
	1983	Paddy Ashdown	Liberal
	1988		Liberal Democrats
	2001	David Laws	Liberal Democrats

Elections

Elections in the 2010s

General Election 2010: Yeovil
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Democrat	David Laws	31,843	55.7	+4.2
	Conservative	Kevin Davis	18,807	32.9	-1.2
	Labour	Lee Skevington	2,991	5.2	-5.3
	UKIP	Nigel Pearson	2,357	4.1	+0.3
	BNP	Robert Baehr	1,162	2.0	+2.0
Majority			13,036	22.8
Turnout			57,160	69.4	+5.6
	Liberal Democrat hold		Swing	+2.7

Elections in the 2000s

General Election 2005: Yeovil
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Democrat	David Laws	25,658	51.4	+7.2
	Conservative	Ian Jenkins	17,096	34.3	-1.7
	Labour	Colin Rolfe	5,256	10.5	-4.2
	UKIP	Graham Livings	1,903	3.8	+1.5
Majority			8,562	17.2
Turnout			49,913	64.3	0.1
	Liberal Democrat hold		Swing	+4.5

General Election 2001: Yeovil
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Democrat	David Laws	21,266	44.2	-4.6
	Conservative	Marco Forgione	17,338	36.0	+8.4
	Labour	Joe Conway	7,077	14.7	-0.2
	UKIP	Neil Boxall	1,131	2.3	N/A
	Green	Alex Begg	786	1.6	+0.3
	Liberal	Anthony Prior	534	1.1	N/A
Majority			3,928	8.2	-12.8
Turnout			48,132	64.2	-8.5
	Liberal Democrat hold		Swing	-6.5

Elections in the 1990s

General Election 1997: Yeovil
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Democrat	Paddy Ashdown	26,349	48.7	-2.9
	Conservative	Nick Cambrook	14,946	27.7	-9.3
	Labour	Joe Conway	8,053	14.9	+5.3
	Referendum Party	John Beveridge	3,574	6.6	N/A
	Green	David Taylor	728	1.3	+0.2
	Independent	John Archer	306	0.6	N/A
	Rainbow Dream Ticket	Christopher Hudson	97	0.2	N/A
Majority			11,403	21.0
Turnout			53,747	72.3	-9.7
	Liberal Democrat hold		Swing	+3.2

General Election 1992: Yeovil
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Democrat	Paddy Ashdown	30,958	51.7	+0.3
	Conservative	Julian Davidson	22,125	36.9	-4.4
	Labour	Vivien Elson	5,765	9.6	+2.3
	Green	Jay Risbridger	639	1.1	N/A
	Monster Raving Loony	Screaming Lord Sutch	338	0.6	N/A
	Independent	Reginald Simmerson	70	0.1	N/A
Majority			8,833	14.7	+4.6
Turnout			59,895	82.0	+2.3
	Liberal Democrat hold		Swing	+2.4

Elections in the 1980s

General Election 1987: Yeovil
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Paddy Ashdown	28,841	51.4	+0.3
	Conservative	G.D. Sandeman	23,141	41.3	-4.4
	Labour	J.F. Fitzmaurice	4,099	7.3	+2.3
Majority			5,700	10.1	+3.8
Turnout			56,081	79.7	-0.1
	Liberal hold		Swing	+2.4

General Election 1983: Yeovil
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Paddy Ashdown	26,608	50.5	+20.0
	Conservative	David Martin	23,202	44.0	-3.9
	Labour	Peter Brushett	2,928	5.6	-16.1
Majority			3,406	6.3
Turnout			52,738	79.8
	Liberal gain from Conservative		Swing	+12.0

Elections in the 1970s

General Election 3 May 1979: Yeovil
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	John Peyton	31,321	47.92
	Liberal	Paddy Ashdown	19,939	30.51
	Labour	Ian Luder	14,098	21.57
Majority			11,382	17.41
Turnout
	Conservative hold		Swing

General Election 10 October 1974: Yeovil
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	John Peyton	25,658	43.0
	Labour	M. T. McVicar	17,330	29.0
	Liberal	Col. Geoffrey F. Taylor	17,298	29.0
	Independent	J. E. Tippett	332	0.5
Majority			7,379
Turnout			60,618	79.3
	Conservative hold		Swing

See also

• List of Parliamentary constituencies in Somerset