Richmond (Yorks) (UK Parliament constituency)

See Richmond Park (UK Parliament constituency) for the London constituency.

Template:UK constituency infobox Richmond, North Yorkshire is a 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 Richmond constituency covers the Richmondshire district and the northern part of the Hambleton district. It is mostly rural, covering parts of the North York Moors and Yorkshire Dales National Parks, including Wensleydale and Swaledale. It contains the market towns of Northallerton, Richmond, Stokesley and Great Ayton as well as surrounding villages. It also includes the large army base, Catterick Garrison.

Boundary review

Following their review of parliamentary representation in York and North Yorkshire, the Boundary Commission for England has recommended minor changes to the Richmond constituency, which will come into effect (subject to Parliamentary Approval)at the next general election.

The revised constituency is comprised of the following:

• the entire district of Richmondshire;
• the Hambleton wards of Bedale, Brompton, Broughton and Greenhow, Cowtons, Crakehall, Great Ayton, Leeming, Leeming Bar, Morton on Swale, Northallerton Broomfield, Northallerton Central, Northallerton North, Osmotherley, Romanby, Rudby, Stokesley, Swainby, and Tanfield.

History

Richmond was one of the seats in the Unreformed House of Commons, first being represented in 1585. In modern times it has been a safe seat for the Conservative Party, with them having held it continually since at least 1929.

From 1983, the seat was represented by the Conservative cabinet minister Leon Brittan, after boundary changes saw his Cleveland and Whitby abolished. He resigned his seat in December 1988 in order to take up the position of Vice-President of the European Commission. The ensuing by-election, held in February 1989, was won by William Hague, although the decision by the remnants of the Social Democratic Party and their former colleagues in the newly-merged Social and Liberal Democrats (who later renamed themselves the Liberal Democrats) split their vote. The SDP candidate, local farmer Mike Potter, came second, and Hague's majority of 2,634 was considerably smaller than the number of votes for the Social and Liberal Democrat candidate Barbara Peace (11,589 votes in third place). Hague has retained the seat at every general election since then.

At the 2001 general election, Richmond became the Conservatives' safest seat in the UK, both in terms of the actual numerical majority and by percentage. Although the numerical majority was surpassed by Buckingham at the 2005 election, Richmond has a smaller electorate and consequently was able to retain its position of having the largest percentage majority. It can therefore be regarded as the Conservatives' safest seat.

Members of Parliament

• 1895 — 1906: John Hutton, Conservative
• 1906 — 1910: Francis Dyke Acland, Liberal
• 1910 — 1918: William Orde-Powlett
• 1918 — 1929: Sir Murrough John Wilson, Unionist
• 1929 — 1959: Thomas Dugdale, Conservative
• 1959 — 1983: Timothy Kitson, Conservative
• 1983 — 1988: Leon Brittan, Conservative
• 1989 — present: William Hague, Conservative

Election results

General Election 2005: Richmond, North Yorkshire

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	William Hague	26,722	59.1	+0.2
	Labour	Neil Foster	8,915	19.7	−2.2
	Liberal Democrats	Jacquie Bell	7,982	17.7	−0.2
	Green	Leslie Rowe	1,581	3.5	N/A
Majority			17,807	39.4
Turnout			45,200	65.0	−2.5
	Conservative hold		Swing

General Election 2001: Richmond

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	William Hague	25,951	58.9	+10.1
	Labour Co-op	Fay Tinnion	9,632	21.9	−5.9
	Liberal Democrats	Edward Forth	7,890	17.9	−0.5
	Monster Raving Loony	Boney Maronie Steniforth	561	1.3	N/A
Majority			16,319	37.0
Turnout			44,034	67.4	−6.0
	Conservative hold		Swing

See also

• List of Parliamentary constituencies in North Yorkshire