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List of parliamentary constituencies in Hertfordshire

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A small county slightly to the south and east of the centre of the country, and completely bounded by other counties.
The county of Hertfordshire in relation to England

The county of Hertfordshire in England is divided into eleven Parliamentary constituencies. Each of the eleven elects a Member of Parliament (MP) to represent it at the United Kingdom (UK) Parliament in Westminster. As of the 2019 general election, ten of Hertfordshire's eleven MPs are Conservatives. The county currently has two urban borough constituencies (BC) – Broxbourne and Watford – while the other nine are classed as more rural county constituencies (CC).

Constituencies

Further information: 2019 United Kingdom general election
Context of the 2019 result. The county elected 10 Tory MPs and 1 Lib. Dem. MP. Luton, Bedfordshire returned two Labour candidates, it forms a small projection into the county's shape.

Limits of the seats were amended by the Fifth Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies carried out by the Boundary Commission for England for future elections which have included 2010, 2015, 2017 and 2019. Each constituency is made up of whole or partial local government wards, which elect councillors at English local elections. Nine are designated as county constituencies (in which candidates can spend more per head than their borough counterparts). Two are borough constituencies.

[1]   Conservative †   Labour ‡   Liberal Democrat ¤

Name[nb 1] Electorate[2] Majority[3][nb 2] Member of Parliament[3] Nearest opposition[3] Map
Broxbourne BC 73,182 19,807 bgcolor="Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" |  Charles Walker †[4] bgcolor="Template:Labour Party (UK)/meta/color" |  Sean Waters ‡
A fairly small constituency in the southeast part of the county.
Hemel Hempstead CC 74,035 14,563 bgcolor="Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" | Michael Penning † bgcolor="Template:Labour Party (UK)/meta/color" | Nabila Ahmed ‡
A medium-sized constituency. It is slightly to the northwest of the centre of the county.
Hertford and Stortford CC 81,765 19,620 bgcolor="Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" | Julie Marson † bgcolor="Template:Labour Party (UK)/meta/color" | Chris Vince ‡
A medium-sized constituency located in the east of the county.
Hertsmere CC 73,971 21,313 bgcolor="Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" | Oliver Dowden † bgcolor="Template:Labour Party (UK)/meta/color" | Holly Kal-Weiss ‡
A small-to-medium sized constituency, located in the south of the county.
Hitchin and Harpenden CC 76,323 6,895 bgcolor="Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" | Bim Afolami † bgcolor="Template:Liberal Democrats (UK)/meta/color" | Sam Collins ¤
A fairly large constituency, stretching from the centre of the county northwards.
North East Hertfordshire CC 76,123 18,189 bgcolor="Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" | Oliver Heald † bgcolor="Template:Labour Party (UK)/meta/color" | Kelley Green ‡
The largest constituency in the county, primarily located in the northeast of the county. Its northernmost parts are considerably further north than constituencies in the west.
South West Hertfordshire CC 80,499 14,408 bgcolor="Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" | Gagan Mohindra † bgcolor="Template:Independent politician/meta/color" | David Gauke
A medium sized constituency. It is long and thin in shape, stretching from the northwest to the southwest of the county.
St Albans CC 73,727 6,293 bgcolor="Template:Liberal Democrats (UK)/meta/color" | Daisy Cooper ¤ bgcolor="Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" | Anne Main †
A small-to-medium sized constituency, slightly west of the centre of the county. It is bordered entirely by other constituencies in the county.
Stevenage CC 71,562 8,562 bgcolor="Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" | Stephen McPartland † bgcolor="Template:Labour Party (UK)/meta/color" | Jill Borcherds ‡
A small constituency located slightly north of the centre of the county. It is bordered exclusively by other constituencies in the county.
Watford BC 83,359 4,433 bgcolor="Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" | Dean Russell † bgcolor="Template:Labour Party (UK)/meta/color" | Chris Ostrowski ‡
A small constituency, southwest of the centre of the county.
Welwyn Hatfield CC 74,892 10,955 bgcolor="Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" | Grant Shapps † bgcolor="Template:Labour Party (UK)/meta/color" | Rosie Newbigging ‡
A medium sized constituency at the centre of the county. It is entirely bounded by other constituencies in the county.

2010 boundary changes

The Boundary Commission for England decided not to change Hertfordshire's representation in Parliament for the 2010 election. It did however suggest slight boundary changes to reduce electoral disparity. The recommendations, which became law with the Parliamentary Constituencies (England) Order 2007, also ensured that local government wards in Hertfordshire would no longer be split between two Parliamentary constituencies.[5][6]

No. on map Constituency Pre-2010 Boundaries Post-2010 Boundaries
1 Broxbourne
A map of a county, divided into eleven constituencies
The same map of a county. It is divided into eleven constituencies, some of which have slightly different boundaries.
2 Hemel Hempstead
3 Hertford and Stortford
4 Hertsmere
5 Hitchin and Harpenden
6 North East Hertfordshire
7 South West Hertfordshire
8 St Albans
9 Stevenage
10 Watford
11 Welwyn Hatfield

Proposed boundary changes

The Boundary Commission for England submitted their final proposals in respect of the Sixth Periodic Review of Westminster Constituencies (the 2018 review) in September 2018. Although the proposals were immediately laid before Parliament they were not brought forward by the Government for approval. Accordingly, they did not come into effect for the 2019 election which took place on 12 December 2019, and which was contested using the constituency boundaries in place since 2010.

Under the terms of the Parliamentary Voting System and Constituencies Act 2011, the Sixth Review was based on reducing the total number of MPs from 650 to 600 and a strict electoral parity requirement that the electorate of all constituencies should be within a range of 5% either side of the electoral quota.

On 24 March 2020, the Minister of State for the Cabinet Office, Chloe Smith, issued a written statement to Parliament setting out the Government's thinking with regard to parliamentary boundaries.[7] Subsequently, the Parliamentary Constituencies Act 2020[8] was passed into law on 14 December 2020. This formally removed the duty to implement the 2018 review and set out the framework for future boundary reviews. The Act provided that the number of constituencies should remain at the current level of 650, rather than being reduced to 600, while retaining the requirement that the electorate should be no more than +/- 5% from the electoral quota.

The Act specified that the next review should be completed no later than 1 July 2023 and the Boundary Commission formally launched the 2023 Review on 5 January 2021.[9] See 2023 Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies for further details.

Results history

Primary data source: House of Commons research briefing - General election results from 1918 to 2019[10]

2019

The number of votes cast for each political party who fielded candidates in constituencies comprising Hertfordshire in the 2019 general election were as follows:

Party Votes % Change from 2017 Seats Change from 2017
Conservative 317,018 52.7% Decrease1.6% 10 Decrease1
Labour 141,143 20.1% Decrease8.6% 0 0
Liberal Democrats 110,006 18.6% Increase8.4% 1 Increase1
Greens 15,132 3.3% Increase0.2% 0 0
Others 17,764 0.6% Increase1.6% 0 0
Total 601,063 100.0 11

Percentage votes

Election year 1974

(Feb)

1974

(Oct)

1979 1983 1987 1992 1997 2001 2005 2010 2015 2017 2019
Conservative 40.4 41.3 51.1 50.3 52.0 53.3 40.6 41.8 44.8 50.4 52.6 54.3 52.7
Labour 35.0 38.5 34.4 19.0 19.8 25.5 39.7 38.9 30.2 19.0 22.4 32.1 23.5
Liberal Democrat1 24.4 19.8 13.2 30.2 27.8 20.3 16.0 16.9 21.4 24.0 8.7 9.9 18.3
Green Party - - - - * * * * * 0.8 3.6 2.3 2.5
UKIP - - - - - - * * * 3.3 12.5 1.2 *
Other 0.2 0.4 1.3 0.5 0.4 0.9 3.7 2.4 3.6 2.5 0.2 0.2 3.0

11974 & 1979 - Liberal Party; 1983 & 1987 - SDP-Liberal Alliance

* Included in Other

Seats

Election year 1974

(Feb)

1974

(Oct)

1979 1983 1987 1992 1997 2001 2005 2010 2015 2017 2019
Conservative 7 5 9 10 10 10 6 6 9 11 11 11 10
Labour 2 4 0 0 0 0 5 5 2 0 0 0 0
Liberal Democrat1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
Total 9 9 9 10 10 10 11 11 11 11 11 11 11

11974 & 1979 - Liberal Party; 1983 & 1987 - SDP-Liberal Alliance

Maps

  • Feb 1974
    Feb 1974
  • Oct 1974
    Oct 1974
  • 1979
    1979
  • 1983
    1983
  • 1987
    1987
  • 1992
    1992
  • 1997
    1997
  • 2001
    2001
  • 2005
    2005
  • 2010
    2010
  • 2015
    2015
  • 2017
    2017
  • 2019
    2019

Timeline

See also: List of former United Kingdom Parliamentary constituencies
  Former constituency
  * Constituency for the 2017 United Kingdom general election
Constituency Years
1290–1298 1298–1307 1307–1852 1852–1885 1885–1918 1918–1945 1945–1950 1950–1955 1955–1974 1974–1983 1983–1997 1997–*
Hertfordshire[11] 1290–1885  
Hertford[11][12]   1298–1974
St Albans[nb 3][11][12]   1307–1852   1885–*
Watford[12]   1885–*
Hitchin[12]   1885–1983
Hemel Hempstead[13]   1918–1983 1997–*
Barnet   1945–1974 Part of Greater London from 1965
South West Hertfordshire[14][15]   1950–*
East Hertfordshire[16]   1955–1983
Hertford and Stevenage   1974–1983
South Hertfordshire   1974–1983
Welwyn Hatfield   1974–*
North Hertfordshire   1983–1997
West Hertfordshire   1983–1997
Broxbourne   1983–*
Hertford and Stortford   1983–*
Hertsmere   1983–*
Stevenage 1983–*
Hitchin and Harpenden   1997–*
North East Hertfordshire   1997–*

Historical representation by party

A cell marked → (with a different colour background to the preceding cell) indicates that the previous MP continued to sit under a new party name.

1885 to 1945

  Anti-Waste League   Conservative   Independent   Liberal   Silver Badge

Constituency 1885 1886 1892 1895 98 1900 04 1906 Jan 10 Dec 10 11 16 1918 19 20 21 1922 1923 1924 1929 1931 33 1935 37 41 43
Hertford bgcolor="Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" colspan="4" |A. Smith bgcolor="Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" |E. Cecil bgcolor="Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" colspan="3" |A. H. Smith bgcolor="Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" colspan="3" |Rolleston bgcolor="Template:Independent (politician)/meta/color" |Billing → bgcolor="Template:Anti-Waste League/meta/color"|Sueter bgcolor="Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" colspan="12" |→
Hitchin bgcolor="Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" colspan="2" |Dimsdale bgcolor="Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" colspan="5" |Hudson bgcolor="Template:Liberal Party (UK)/meta/color" |Bertram bgcolor="Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" colspan="2" |Hillier bgcolor="Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" colspan="7" |R. Cecil bgcolor="Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" colspan="3" |Kindersley bgcolor="Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" |Knebworth bgcolor="Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" colspan="3" |Wilson bgcolor="Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" colspan="2" |Berry
St Albans bgcolor="Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" colspan="2" |J. W. Grimston bgcolor="Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" colspan="4" |Gibbs bgcolor="Template:Liberal Party (UK)/meta/color"|Slack bgcolor="Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" colspan="6" |Carlile bgcolor="Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" colspan="12" |Fremantle bgcolor="Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" |J. Grimston
Watford bgcolor="Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" colspan="7" |Halsey bgcolor="Template:Liberal Party (UK)/meta/color" |Micklem bgcolor="Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" colspan="4" |Ward bgcolor="Template:Coalition Conservative/meta/color" colspan="13" |Herbert bgcolor="Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" |Helmore
Hemel Hempstead bgcolor="Template:Coalition Conservative/meta/color" colspan="2" |Talbot bgcolor="Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" colspan="3" |J. Davidson bgcolor=Template:Liberal Party (UK)/meta/color|Dunn bgcolor="Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" colspan="5" |J. Davidson bgcolor="Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" colspan="3" |F. Davidson

1945 to present

  Conservative   Independent   Labour   Liberal Democrats

Constituency 1945 1950 1951 1955 1959 1964 1966 1970 Feb 1974 Oct 1974 1979 79 1983 1987 1992 1997 2001 2005 2010 2015 2017 19 2019
Barnet bgcolor="Template:Labour Party (UK)/meta/color" |Taylor bgcolor="Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" colspan="7" |Maudling Transferred to Greater London
Hemel Hempstead (1945–83, 97-) / West Hertfordshire (1983) bgcolor="Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" colspan="4" |Davidson bgcolor="Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" colspan="5" |Allason bgcolor="Template:Labour Party (UK)/meta/color" |Corbett bgcolor="Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" colspan="2" |Lyell bgcolor="Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" colspan="3" |Jones bgcolor="Template:Labour Co-operative/meta/color" colspan="2" |McWalter bgcolor="Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" colspan="6" |Penning
Hertford / & Stevenage (1974) / H & Stortford (1983) bgcolor="Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" colspan="3" |Walker-Smith bgcolor="Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" colspan="5" |Lindsay bgcolor="Template:Labour Party (UK)/meta/color" colspan="2" |Williams bgcolor="Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" colspan="6" |Wells bgcolor="Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" colspan="6" |Prisk bgcolor="Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" |Marson
Hitchin / North Hertfordshire (1983) / NE Hertfordshire (1997) bgcolor="Template:Labour Party (UK)/meta/color" |Jones bgcolor="Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" colspan="2" |Fisher bgcolor="Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" colspan="2" |Maddan bgcolor="Template:Labour Party (UK)/meta/color" colspan="3" |Williams bgcolor="Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" colspan="6" |Stewart bgcolor="Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" colspan="9" |Heald
St Albans bgcolor="Template:Labour Party (UK)/meta/color" |Dumpleton bgcolor="Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" colspan="3" |Grimston bgcolor="Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" colspan="8" |Goodhew bgcolor="Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" colspan="3" |Lilley bgcolor="Template:Labour Party (UK)/meta/color" colspan="2" |Pollard bgcolor="Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" colspan="5" |Main bgcolor="Template:Liberal Democrats/meta/color" |Cooper
Watford bgcolor="Template:Labour Party (UK)/meta/color" colspan="3" |Freeman bgcolor="Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" colspan="2" |Farey-Jones bgcolor="Template:Labour Party (UK)/meta/color" colspan="5" |Tuck bgcolor="Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" colspan="5" |Garel-Jones bgcolor="Template:Labour Party (UK)/meta/color" colspan="3" |Ward bgcolor="Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" colspan="4" |Harrington bgcolor="Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" |Russell
Hertfordshire SW bgcolor="Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" colspan="7" |Longden bgcolor="Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" colspan="3" |Dodsworth bgcolor="Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" colspan="6" |Page bgcolor="Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" colspan="4" |Gauke bgcolor="Template:Independent (politician)/meta/color" |→ bgcolor="Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" |Mohindra
Hertfordshire E / Broxbourne (1983) bgcolor="Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" colspan="9" |Walker-Smith bgcolor="Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" colspan="5" |Roe bgcolor="Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" colspan="6" |Walker
Hertfordshire South / Hertsmere (1983) bgcolor="Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" colspan="6" |Parkinson bgcolor="Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" colspan="5" |Clappison bgcolor="Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" colspan="4" |Dowden
Welwyn and Hatfield bgcolor="Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" |Lindsay bgcolor="Template:Labour Party (UK)/meta/color" |Hayman bgcolor="Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" colspan="3" |Murphy bgcolor="Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" colspan="2" |Evans bgcolor="Template:Labour Party (UK)/meta/color" colspan="2" |Johnson bgcolor="Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" colspan="6" |Shapps
Stevenage bgcolor="Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" colspan="3" |Wood bgcolor="Template:Labour Party (UK)/meta/color" colspan="3" |Follett bgcolor="Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" colspan="5" |McPartland
Hitchin and Harpenden bgcolor="Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" colspan="5" |Lilley bgcolor="Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" colspan="3" |Afolami

See also

Footnotes

  1. ^ BC denotes borough constituency, CC denotes county constituency.
  2. ^ The majority is the number of votes the winning candidate receives more than their nearest rival.
  3. ^ St Albans was abolished in 1852, but re-established in 1885.

References

General
  • "Boundary Commission for England: Fifth Periodical Report" (PDF). Boundary Commission for England. Crown Copyright. 2007. Archived from the original (PDF) on July 26, 2011. Retrieved 6 November 2009.
  • Craig, Frederick Walter Scott (1972). Boundaries of Parliamentary Constituencies 1885–1972. Chichester, Sussex: Political Reference Publications. ISBN 0-900178-13-2.
  • Robinson, Gwennah (1978). Barracuda Guide to County History, Vol III: Hertfordshire. Barracuda Books. ISBN 0-86023-030-9.
  • Richard Hacker (13 February 2001). "Report on a local inquiry into the Parliamentary constituency boundaries for the county of Hertfordshire" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on January 28, 2007. Retrieved 28 November 2009.
Specific
  1. ^ "Variation of election expenses limits for candidates at UK Parliamentary and local government elections" (PDF). The Electoral Commission. Retrieved 26 November 2009.
  2. ^ Baker, Carl; Uberoi, Elise; Cracknell, Richard (2020-01-28). "General Election 2019: full results and analysis". {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  3. ^ a b c "Constituencies A-Z - Election 2019". BBC News. Retrieved 2020-04-23.
  4. ^ "Constituency:Broxbourne". BBC News. Retrieved 2 August 2010.
  5. ^ Boundary Commission for England pp. 346–350.
  6. ^ "The Parliamentary Constituencies (England) Order 2007". Office of Public Sector Information. Crown copyright. 13 June 2007. Archived from the original on February 11, 2010. Retrieved 7 November 2009.
  7. ^ "Update: Strengthening Democracy:Written statement - HCWS183". UK Parliament. Retrieved 2020-04-20.
  8. ^ "Parliamentary Constituencies Act 2020".
  9. ^ "2023 Review launched | Boundary Commission for England". Retrieved 2021-01-08.
  10. ^ Watson, Christopher; Uberoi, Elise; Loft, Philip (2020-04-17). "General election results from 1918 to 2019". {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  11. ^ a b c David Boothroyd. "Parliamentary Constituencies in the unreformed House". David Boothroyd. Retrieved 9 November 2009.
  12. ^ a b c d "Historic maps". David Rumsey Historical Map Collection. Retrieved 28 November 2009.
  13. ^ "Full text of "The Representation of the people act, 1918 : with explanatory notes"". Internet Archive. Retrieved 28 November 2009.
  14. ^ "UK General Election results July 1945". politicsresources.net. Archived from the original on 11 August 2011. Retrieved 29 November 2009.
  15. ^ "UK General Election results February 1950". politicsresources.net. Archived from the original on 11 August 2011. Retrieved 29 November 2009.
  16. ^ "UK General Election results May 1955". politicsresources.net. Archived from the original on 11 August 2011. Retrieved 29 November 2009.
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