Stevenage (UK Parliament constituency)

Stevenage
County constituency for the House of Commons
Boundary of Stevenage in Hertfordshire
Location of Hertfordshire within England
County	Hertfordshire
Electorate	69,357 (December 2010)[1]
Major settlements	Knebworth, Stevenage
Current constituency
Created	1983
Member of Parliament	Stephen McPartland (Conservative)
Number of members	One
Created from	Hertford & Stevenage, Hitchin, and East Hertfordshire

Stevenage is a constituency^{[n 1]} represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2010 by Stephen McPartland, a Conservative.^{[n 2]}

History

The constituency was created in 1983 from parts of the seats of Hertford and Stevenage, Hitchin, and East Hertfordshire. A Southern England new town seat with volatile voting patterns, it was Conservative held between 1983 and 1997 until Labour easily gained it, but their winning margin in 2005 was small and the Conservatives gained the seat at the 2010 election.

Its main predecessor, named first, was also a bellwether of the national result. Shirley Williams has been the most prominent member, in fact the second frontbencher since 1974. She held it when she was a Secretary of State in government from 1974 until 1979, Secretary of State for Prices and Consumer Protection and then Paymaster General. Barbara Follett achieved two ministerial roles from 2007 until 2010.

Constituency profile

The main town is known for its fast rail links to London and proximity to Luton Airport which accompanies a few headquarters of global businesses based in the seat. Workless claimants, registered jobseekers, were in November 2012 higher than the national average of 3.8%, and eastern regional average of 3.2%, at 4.0% of the population based on a statistical compilation by The Guardian.^[2]

Boundaries and boundary changes

1983–1997: The Borough of Stevenage, the District of North Hertfordshire wards of Codicote and Knebworth, and the District of East Hertfordshire wards of Cottered, Datchworth, Mundern, Walkern, and Watton-at-Stone.^[3]

The constituency was formed from the majority of the abolished County Constituency of Hertford and Stevenage, except for the wards of Codicote and Knebworth, transferred from the abolished County Constituency of Hitchin, and the wards of Cottered and Mundern, transferred from the abolished County Constituency of East Hertfordshire.

1997–2010: The Borough of Stevenage, the District of North Hertfordshire wards of Codicote and Knebworth, and the District of East Hertfordshire wards of Datchworth and Walkern.^[4]

The District of East Hertfordshire wards of Cottered, Mundern and Watton-at-Stone were transferred to the new County Constituency of North East Hertfordshire.

2010–present: The Borough of Stevenage, the District of North Hertfordshire wards of Codicote and Knebworth, and the District of East Hertfordshire ward of Datchworth and Aston.^[5]

Walkern ward transferred to North East Hertfordshire.

The constituency covers the Borough of Stevenage, as well as the villages of Codicote and Knebworth to the south and Aston and Datchworth to the east.^[6]

Members of Parliament

Election		Member[7]	Party
	1983	Tim Wood	Conservative
	1997	Barbara Follett	Labour
	2010	Stephen McPartland	Conservative

Elections

Elections in the 2010s

General election 2019: Stevenage^[8]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Stephen McPartland	25,328	53.1	+2.8
	Labour	Jill Borcherds	16,766	35.2	-8.2
	Liberal Democrats	Lisa Nash	4,132	8.7	+4.6
	Green	Victoria Snelling	1,457	3.1	+0.9
Majority			8,562	17.9	+11.0
Turnout			47,683	66.6	-3.1
	Conservative hold		Swing	+5.5

General election 2017: Stevenage^[9]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Stephen McPartland	24,798	50.3	5.8
	Labour Co-op	Sharon Taylor	21,414	43.4	9.2
	Liberal Democrats	Barbara Gibson	2,032	4.1	0.8
	Green	Victoria Snelling	1,085	2.2	0.7
Majority			3,384	6.9	3.4
Turnout			49,329	69.7	2.0
	Conservative hold		Swing	1.8

See also: Opinion polling in United Kingdom constituencies, 2010–15 § Stevenage

General election 2015: Stevenage^[10][11]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Stephen McPartland	21,291	44.5	+3.1
	Labour Co-op	Sharon Taylor	16,336	34.2	+0.8
	UKIP	David Collins	6,864	14.4	+9.9
	Liberal Democrats	Susan Van De Ven	1,582	3.3	−13.3
	Green	Graham White	1,369	2.9	New
	TUSC	Trevor Palmer	175	0.4	New
	English Democrat	Charles Vickers	115	0.2	−0.6
	Independent	David Cox	67	0.1	−0.1
Majority			4,955	10.3	+2.3
Turnout			47,799	67.7	+2.9
	Conservative hold		Swing	+1.2

General election 2010: Stevenage^[12][13]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Stephen McPartland	18,491	41.4	+6.0
	Labour Co-op	Sharon Taylor	14,913	33.4	−9.7
	Liberal Democrats	Julia Davies	7,432	16.6	−1.7
	UKIP	Marion Mason	2,004	4.5	+1.4
	BNP	Michael Green	1,007	2.3	New
	English Democrat	Charles Vickers	366	0.8	New
	NCDMV!	Stephen Phillips	327	0.7	New
	Independent	David Cox	80	0.2	New
	Your Right To Democracy Party Ltd.	Andrew Ralph	31	0.1	New
Majority			3,578	8.0	N/A
Turnout			44,651	64.8	+2.1
	Conservative gain from Labour		Swing	+8.0

Elections in the 2000s

General election 2005: Stevenage^[14]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Barbara Follett	18,003	42.9	−9.0
	Conservative	George Freeman	14,864	35.4	+3.7
	Liberal Democrats	Julia Davies	7,610	18.1	+3.9
	UKIP	Victoria Peebles	1,305	3.1	New
	Independent	Antal Losonczi	152	0.4	−0.4
Majority			3,139	7.5	-13.3
Turnout			41,934	62.7	+2.0
	Labour hold		Swing	−6.4

General election 2001: Stevenage^[15]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Barbara Follett	22,025	51.9	−3.5
	Conservative	Graeme Brian Quar	13,459	31.7	−1.1
	Liberal Democrats	Harold Davies	6,027	14.2	+5.3
	Socialist Alliance	Stephen William Glennon	449	1.1	New
	Independent	Antal Losonczi	320	0.8	New
	ProLife Alliance	Mrs. Sarah Teresa Anne Bell	173	0.4	New
Majority			8,566	20.2	-2.4
Turnout			42,453	60.7	−15.9
	Labour hold		Swing

Elections in the 1990s

General election 1997: Stevenage^[16]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Barbara Follett	28,440	55.4	+16.8
	Conservative	Timothy Wood	16,858	32.8	−11.1
	Liberal Democrats	Alexander Iain Cameron Wilcock	4,588	8.9	−8.2
	Referendum	Jeffery Michael Coburn	1,194	2.3	New
	ProLife Alliance	David William Bundy	196	0.4	New
	Natural Law	Andrew Brinley Michael Calcraft	110	0.2	−0.2
Majority			11,582	22.6	N/A
Turnout			51,386	76.6	-6.4
	Labour gain from Conservative		Swing	+14.0

General election 1992: Stevenage^[17][18]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Timothy Wood	26,652	45.7	+3.6
	Labour	Judith Church	21,764	37.3	+11.9
	Liberal Democrats	Andrew Anthony Reilly	9,668	16.6	−15.9
	Natural Law	Andrew Brinley Michael Calcraft	233	0.4	New
Majority			4,888	8.4	−1.2
Turnout			58,317	83.0	+2.5
	Conservative hold		Swing	−4.1

Elections in the 1980s

General election 1987: Stevenage^[19]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Timothy Wood	23,541	42.1	+2.7
	SDP	Ben Stoneham	18,201	32.5	−3.6
	Labour	Malcolm Robert Crawford Withers	14,229	25.4	+1.4
Majority			5,340	9.6	+6.3
Turnout			55,971	80.5	+2.6
	Conservative hold		Swing

General election 1983: Stevenage^[20]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Timothy Wood	20,787	39.4
	SDP	Ben Stoneham	19,032	36.1
	Labour	Mrs. Susan Ann Reeves	12,673	24.0
	BNP	David Robert Bowmaker	236	0.5
Majority			1,755	3.3
Turnout			52,728	77.9
	Conservative win (new seat)

See also

• List of Parliamentary constituencies in Hertfordshire

Notes and references

Notes

1. A county constituency (for the purposes of election expenses and type of returning officer)
2. As with all constituencies, the constituency elects one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first past the post system of election at least every five years.

References

1. "Electorate Figures - Boundary Commission for England". 2011 Electorate Figures. Boundary Commission for England. 4 March 2011. Archived from the original on November 6, 2010. Retrieved 13 March 2011.
2. Unemployment claimants by constituency The Guardian
3. "The Parliamentary Constituencies (England) Order 1983". www.legislation.gov.uk. Retrieved 2019-02-25.
4. "The Parliamentary Constituencies (England) Order 1995". www.legislation.gov.uk. Retrieved 2019-02-25.
5. "The Parliamentary Constituencies (England) Order 2007". www.legislation.gov.uk. Retrieved 2019-02-25.
6. 2010 post-revision map non-metropolitan areas and unitary authorities of England
7. Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "S" (part 5)
8. "Stevenage Parliamentary constituency". BBC News. BBC. Retrieved 19 November 2019.
9. "Stevenage parliamentary constituency - Election 2017 - BBC News". BBC Online. 9 June 2017. Retrieved 13 June 2017.
10. "Election Data 2015". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 17 October 2015. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
11. "Stevenage parliamentary constituency - Election 2015 - BBC News". BBC Online. 8 May 2015. Retrieved 8 May 2015.
12. "Election Data 2010". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 26 July 2013. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
13. "Stevenage". BBC Online (BBC). 7 May 2010. Retrieved 7 May 2010.
14. "Election Data 2005". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
15. "Election Data 2001". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
16. "Election Data 1997". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
17. "Election Data 1992". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
18. "UK General Election results April 1992". Richard Kimber's Political Science Resources. Politics Resources. 9 April 1992. Retrieved 2010-12-06.
19. "Election Data 1987". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
20. "Election Data 1983". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.

Coordinates: 51°53′N 0°10′W / 51.883°N 0.167°W / 51.883; -0.167