Ashfield (UK Parliament constituency)

Template:UK constituency infobox Ashfield is a county constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom.

Former Secretary of State for Defence, Geoff Hoon, has represented the seat for the Labour Party since the 1992 general election, when he succeeded the three-term Labour member Frank Haynes. In normal circumstances a safe Labour area, the Conservatives pulled off a by-election upset in the seat in 1977, but at the general election two years later it was won back by Labour. There were strong Liberal Party challenges to the Labour dominance of Ashfield in the 1980s and at the last general election the Lib Dems were the only party to increase their share of the vote and since 2007 the Lib Dems have run Ashfield Distrcit Council. In the constituency both Labour and the Lib Dems have eleven district councillors and the Conservatives have none.

Boundaries

Ashfield County Constituency was formed in 1970. At that date it covered the areas of the Urban Districts of Hucknall, Kirkby in Ashfield and Sutton in Ashfield, together with three Civil Parishes (Annesley, Felley and Selston) in Basford Rural District.

In 1974 a Local Government District called Ashfield was formed that had the same boundaries as the constituency.

In 1983 the boundary of the constituency was altered. The town of Hucknall was transferred to the new Sherwood constituency, while the town of Eastwood and the ward of Brinsley were added, having previously been in the Beeston constituency, which was abolished at this time.

Boundary review

Following their review of parliamentary boundaries in Nottinghamshire, the Boundary Commission for England has made only minor changes to the existing constituencies to allow for population changes. The boundaries of the modified constituency to be fought at the Next United Kingdom general election are:

• From the district of Ashfield - Jacksdale, Kirkby in Ashfield Central, Kirkby in Ashfield East, Kirkby in Ashfield West, Selston, Sutton in Ashfield Central, Sutton in Ashfield East, Sutton in Ashfield North, Sutton in Ashfield West, Underwood and Woodhouse
• From the Borough of Broxtowe - Brinsley, Eastwood North and Greasley (Beauvale) and Eastwood South.

Members of Parliament

Election		Member	Party
style="background-color: Template:Labour Party (UK)/meta/color" |	1955	William Warbey	Labour
style="background-color: Template:Labour Party (UK)/meta/color" |	1966	David Marquand	Labour
style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" |	1977 by-election	Tim Smith	Conservative
style="background-color: Template:Labour Party (UK)/meta/color" |	1979	Frank Haynes	Labour
style="background-color: Template:Labour Party (UK)/meta/color" |	1992	Geoff Hoon	Labour

Election results

Elections in the 2000s

UK general election, 2005: Ashfield

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Geoff Hoon	20,433	48.6	−9.5
	Conservative	Giles Inglis-Jones	10,220	24.3	−0.1
	Liberal Democrats	Wendy Johnson	5,829	13.9	+2.6
	Ashfield Independents	Roy Adkins	2,292	5.5	N/A
	Independent	Kate Allsop	1,900	4.5	N/A
	Veritas	Sarah Hemstock	1,108	2.6	N/A
	Independent	Eddie Grenfell	269	0.6	N/A
Majority			10,213	24.3
Turnout			42,051	57.3	+3.7

UK general election, 2001: Ashfield

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Geoff Hoon	22,875	58.1	−7.0
	Conservative	Julian Leigh	9,607	24.4	+4.2
	Liberal Democrats	Bill Smith	4,428	11.3	+1.6
	Independent	Charlie Harby	1,471	3.7	N/A
	Socialist Alliance	George Watson	589	1.5	N/A
	Socialist Labour	Katrina Howse	380	1.0	N/A
Majority			13,268	33.7
Turnout			39,350	53.6	−16.4
	Labour hold		Swing	{{{swing}}}

Elections in the 1970s

United Kingdom Parliament: Ashfield by-election, 1977

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Tim Smith	19,616	43.1	−20.3
	Labour	Michael Cowan	19,352	42.5	+20.2
	Liberal	Hampton Flint	4,380	9.6	−4.7
	National Front	George Herrod	1,734	3.8
	Socialist Workers	June Hall	453	1.0
Majority			264	0.6
	Conservative gain from Labour		Swing	20.8

References

1. Youngs, Frederic A., Guide to the Local Administrative Units of England, Vol II, Northern England, London, 1991

See also

• Ashfield by-election, 1977
• List of Parliamentary constituencies in Nottinghamshire