This article also describes the parliamentary borough (1554-1852) of the same name, consisting only of the city of St Albans, which elected two MPs by the bloc vote system.
History
The Parliamentary Borough of St Albans was represented by two MPs for over 300 years, until it was disenfranchised as a result of electoral corruption in 1852.[2]
The constituency was re-established in an enlarged form by the Redistribution of Seats Act 1885 (which followed on from the Third Reform Act) as one of four Divisions of the abolished three-member Parliamentary County of Hertfordshire, and was formally named as the Mid or St Albans Division of Hertfordshire.
1885 to date
Political history
The seat was until 1997 held by a Conservative with the exception of five years of the Attlee ministry and early 20th century opposition of Henry Campbell-Bannerman and the first part of his premiership which was when he was in a minority.
Following boundary changes in 1997, and the founding of the New Labour movement which sought public sector reform and investment with expansion based on economic growth, the seat stood the possibility of, on the expected national swing led by Tony Blair, a win by a Labour politician, which took place when it was won for the party for the first time since the 1945 election.
Despite the former Labour MP for the seat, Kerry Pollard, standing there in 2005, 2015 and 2017, he has not come close to regaining it. This is in no small part due to the seat showing an unusually high level of support for the Liberal Democrats and their predecessor parties; they twice (in 2001 and 2015) failed to win at least 20% of the vote in St Albans since 1974, and in 2010 and 2017 came a strong second (4.4% and 10.7%) behind the Conservatives. In 2019 the Liberal Democrat Daisy Cooper won the seat from the Conservatives.
Workless claimants (registered jobseekers) were in November 2012 significantly lower than the national average of 3.8%, at 1.9% of the population based on a statistical compilation by The Guardian.[3]
Boundary changes
1885–1918: The Municipal Borough of St Albans, the Sessional Divisions of Barnet and St Albans and parts of the Sessional Divisions of Watford, Hertford and Dacorum.[4]
1918–1945: The Municipal Borough of St Albans, the Urban Districts of Barnet and East Barnet Valley, the Rural Districts of Barnet and Hatfield, and the Rural District of St Albans civil parishes of Sandridge Rural, St Michael Rural, St Peter Rural, and St Stephen.[5]
North-western parts, including Harpenden, transferred to the new Hemel Hempstead Division. South-western corner (Aldenham) transferred to Watford.
1945–1950: The Municipal Borough of St Albans, the Urban District of Welwyn Garden City, the Rural District of Hatfield, and the Rural District of St Albans civil parishes of Sandridge Rural, St Michael Rural, St Peter Rural, and St Stephen.[6]
The Urban Districts of Barnet and East Barnet (formerly East Barnet Valley) and the Rural District of Elstree (formerly Barnet) formed the new Barnet Division. The Urban District of Welwyn Garden City had been formed as a separate local authority which had previously been partly in the Hitchin Division. Other marginal changes as a result of changes to local authority boundaries.
1950–1955: The Municipal Borough of St Albans, the Urban District of Welwyn Garden City, the Rural District of Welwyn, and the Rural District of St Albans civil parishes of Sandridge Rural, St Michael Rural, St Peter Rural, St Stephen, and Wheathampstead.[7]
The Rural District of Welwyn was transferred from Hitchin and the parish of Wheathampstead from Hemel Hempstead. The Rural District of Hatfield was transferred to Barnet.
1955–1974: The Municipal Borough of St Albans, and in the Rural District of St Albans the civil parishes of Colney Heath, London Colney, Sandridge Rural, St Michael Rural, St Stephen, and Wheathampstead.
The Urban District of Welwyn Garden City and the Rural District of Welwyn transferred to Hertford. (The parish of St Peter Rural had been divided into the parishes of Colney Heath and London Colney).
1974–1983: The Municipal Borough of St Albans, the Urban District of Harpenden, and in the Rural District of St Albans the civil parishes of Harpenden Rural, Redbourn, St Michael Rural, Sandridge, and Wheathampstead.[8]
1983–1997: The District of St Albans wards of Ashley, Batchwood, Clarence, Colney Heath, Cunningham, Harpenden East, Harpenden North, Harpenden South, Harpenden West, Marshalswick North, Marshalswick South, Redbourn, St Peter's, Sandridge, Sopwell, and Verulam.[9]
Minor changes. Colney Heath transferred from abolished South Hertfordshire. Wheathampstead transferred to Welwyn Hatfield.
1997–2010: The District of St Albans wards of Ashley, Batchwood, Clarence, Colney Heath, Cunningham, London Colney, Marshalswick North, Marshalswick South, Park Street, St Peter's, St Stephen's, Sopwell, and Verulam, and the District of Three Rivers ward of Bedmond.[10]
Marginal adjustments to bring the parliamentary boundaries in line with those of local government wards, which had changed since the 1995 review.[12]
The seat is in Hertfordshire, England. Specifically, it comprises the cathedralcity of St Albans and some of the surrounding countryside, mainly to the south of the city.
On 3 May 1852, the borough was disenfranchised after a Royal Commission found proof of extensive bribery. The electorate was incorporated into Hertfordshire.[69]
^A borough constituency (for the purposes of election expenses and type of returning officer)
^As with all constituencies, its registered electors elect one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first past the post system of election at least every five years.
^Great Britain, Incorporated Council of Law Reporting for England and Wales. The public general acts. unknown library. Proprietors of the Law Journal Reports, 1884.
^ abcdefghijCraig, F. W. S. (1989) [1974]. British parliamentary election results 1885–1918 (2nd ed.). Chichester: Parliamentary Research Services. p. 297. ISBN0-900178-27-2.
^ abcdefghijkCraig, F. W. S. (1983) [1969]. British parliamentary election results 1918–1949 (3rd ed.). Chichester: Parliamentary Research Services. p. 375. ISBN0-900178-06-X.
^New M.P. For St. Albans, The Times, October 06, 1943
^ abFisher, David R. "St. Albans". The History of Parliament. Retrieved 24 April 2020.
Sources
Robert Beatson, A Chronological Register of Both Houses of Parliament (London: Longman, Hurst, Res & Orme, 1807) [1]
D Brunton & D H Pennington, Members of the Long Parliament (London: George Allen & Unwin, 1954)
Cobbett's Parliamentary history of England, from the Norman Conquest in 1066 to the year 1803 (London: Thomas Hansard, 1808) [2]
F W S Craig, British Parliamentary Election Results 1832-1885 (2nd edition, Aldershot: Parliamentary Research Services, 1989)
Henry Stooks Smith, The Parliaments of England from 1715 to 1847 (2nd edition, edited by FWS Craig - Chichester: Parliamentary Reference Publications, 1973)