South West Norfolk (UK Parliament constituency)

South West Norfolk is a parliamentary constituency of the United Kingdom composed of the towns of Downham Market, Swaffham and Thetford in Norfolk.

Boundaries

The current boundaries of South West Norfolk include Watton, Swaffham, Downham Market, Outwell, Upwell, Feltwell, and Attleborough. The seat includes part of King's Lynn and West Norfolk, and Breckland districts.

Following alterations to constituencies in Norfolk, South West Norfolk gains areas from neighbouring North West Norfolk including Walpole, Tilney St Lawrence, and Wiggenhall. It loses to Mid Norfolk areas including Great Ellingham, Watton, and Necton.

History

South West Norfolk has been held solidly by Conservatives since 1964 but for twenty years before then, it had been ultra-marginal. Labour first held it from 1929–31, and Sidney Dye won it for Labour in 1945 with a tiny majority of 53, holding it at the 1950 election by 260. He lost it to Denys Bullard in 1951 by 442 votes and won it back in 1955 with a majority of 193. Dye died at the end of 1958, and in the by-election Albert Hilton retained the seat for Labour by a margin of 1,354 votes. In the 1959 general election that soon followed, his majority was cut to 78.

Although Labour had held the seat during two Conservative national election victories, the Conservatives took the seat in the 1964 election, which Labour won nationally. Paul Hawkins and Gillian Shephard held the seat. Shephard's majority was slashed in the 1997 general election before recovering in the 2001 general election.

Shephard decided not to run for the 2005 general election. The Conservative Party selected Christopher Fraser, former MP for Mid Dorset and Poole North and he was elected with a majority of over 10,000.

On 28 May 2009, Fraser announced that he would be standing down at the next General Election citing family reasons. This was after his expenses claims were highlighted in the Daily Telegraph; according to the newspaper, Fraser claimed £1,800 in public money for buying 215 trees and marking out the boundary of his second home in the constituency.

Members of Parliament

Election		Member	Party
style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" |	1885	William Tyssen-Amherst	Conservative
style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" |	1892	Sir Thomas Leigh Hare	Conservative
style="background-color: Template:Liberal Party (UK)/meta/color" |	1906	Richard Winfrey	Liberal
style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" |	1923	Alan McLean	Conservative
style="background-color: Template:Labour Party (UK)/meta/color" |	1929	William Benjamin Taylor	Labour
style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" |	1931	Alan McLean	Conservative
style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" |	1935	Somerset de Chair	Conservative
style="background-color: Template:Labour Party (UK)/meta/color" |	1945	Sidney Dye	Labour
style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" |	1951	Denys Bullard	Conservative
style="background-color: Template:Labour Party (UK)/meta/color" |	1955	Sidney Dye	Labour
style="background-color: Template:Labour Party (UK)/meta/color" |	1959	Albert Hilton	Labour
style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" |	1964	Paul Hawkins	Conservative
style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" |	1987	Gillian Shephard	Conservative
style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" |	2005	Christopher Fraser	Conservative

Election results

General Election 2010: South West Norfolk

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Liz Truss	23,753
	Liberal Democrats	Stephen Gordon	10,613
	Labour	Peter Smith	9,119
	UKIP	Kay Hipsey	3,061
	BNP	Dennis Pearce	1,774
	Green	Lori Allen	830
Majority
Turnout

Elections in the 2000s

General Election 2005: South West Norfolk

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Christopher Fraser	25,881	46.9	−5.3
	Labour	Charmaine Morgan	15,795	28.7	−5.8
	Liberal Democrats	April Pond	10,207	18.5	+7.8
	UKIP	Delia Hall	2,738	5.0	+2.4
	Independent	Kim Hayes	506	0.9	N/A
Majority			10,086	18.3
Turnout			55,127	62.5	−0.6
	Conservative hold		Swing	+0.3

General Election 2001: South West Norfolk

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Gillian Shephard	27,633	52.2	+10.2
	Labour	Anne Hanson	18,267	34.5	−3.3
	Liberal Democrats	Gordon Dean	5,681	10.7	−3.2
	UKIP	Ian Smith	1,368	2.6	N/A
Majority			9,366	17.7	+13.5
Turnout			52,949	63.1	−10.0
	Conservative hold		Swing	+6.7

Elections in the 1990s

General Election 1997: South West Norfolk

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Gillian Shephard	24,694	42.0	−12.6
	Labour	Adrian Hefferman	22,230	37.8	+10.7
	Liberal Democrats	David Bucton	8,178	13.9	−6.3
	Referendum	R. Hoare	3,694	6.3	N/A
Majority			2,434	4.2	−23.3
Turnout				73.1	−6.2
	Conservative hold		Swing	−11.65

General Election 1992: South West Norfolk

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Gillian Shephard	33,637	54.6
	Labour	Mary Page	16,706	27.1
	Liberal Democrats	John Marsh	11,237	18.2
Majority			16,931	27.5
Turnout				79.3
	Conservative hold		Swing

See also

• List of Parliamentary constituencies in Norfolk

References

• Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs
• Richard Kimber's Political science Resources: UK General Elections since 1832