South West Norfolk (UK Parliament constituency)

South West Norfolk
County constituency for the House of Commons
Boundary of South West Norfolk in Norfolk.
Location of Norfolk within England.
County	Norfolk
Electorate	75,034 (December 2010)^[1]
Major settlements	Downham Market, Swaffham and Thetford
Current constituency
Created	1885
Member of parliament	Elizabeth Truss (Conservative)
Number of members	One
Overlaps
European Parliament constituency	East of England

South West Norfolk is a constituency^{[n 1]} represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2010 by Elizabeth Truss, a Conservative who has served as Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice since 14 July 2016.^{[n 2]}

Boundaries

1885-1918: The part of the Municipal Borough of Thetford in the county of Norfolk, and the Sessional Divisions of Clackclose, Grimshoe, South Greenhoe, and Wayland.

1918-1950: The Municipal Borough of Thetford, the Urban Districts of Downham Market, East Dereham, and Swaffham, the Rural Districts of Mitford and Launditch, and Swaffham, and parts of the Rural Districts of Downham, Marshland, and Thetford.

1950-1983: The Urban Districts of Downham Market, East Dereham, and Swaffham, and the Rural Districts of Downham, Mitford and Launditch, and Swaffham.

1983-2010: The District of Breckland wards of All Saints, Besthorpe, Buckenham, Conifer, East Guiltcross, Haggard De Toni, Harling, Haverscroft, Heathlands, Mid Forest, Nar Valley, Necton, Peddars Way, Queen's, Swaffham, Templar, Thetford Abbey, Thetford Barnham Cross, Thetford Guildhall, Thetford Saxon, Watton, Wayland, Weeting, West Guiltcross, and Wissey, and the Borough of King's Lynn and West Norfolk wards of Airfield, Denton, Denver, Downham Market, Emneth, Ten Mile, Upwell Outwell and Delph, Watlington, and Wissey.

2010-present: The District of Breckland wards of Conifer, East Guiltcross, Harling and Heathlands, Mid Forest, Nar Valley, Swaffham, Thetford Abbey, Thetford Castle, Thetford Guildhall, Thetford Saxon, Wayland, Weeting, and West Guiltcross, and the Borough of King's Lynn and West Norfolk wards of Airfield, Denton, Downham Old Town, East Downham, Emneth with Outwell, Hilgay with Denver, Mershe Lande, North Downham, St Lawrence, South Downham, Upwell and Delph, Walton, Watlington, Wiggenhall, and Wimbotsham with Fincham Wissey.

The constituency includes Downham Market, Swaffham, Thetford, Outwell, Upwell, and Feltwell.

Fifth Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies

After the Boundary Commission's report for 2010, South West Norfolk gained wards from neighbouring North West Norfolk including Walpole, Tilney St Lawrence, and Wiggenhall villages. It lost to Mid Norfolk the wards of All Saints, Buckenham, Burgh and Haverscroft, Haggard De Toni, Necton, Queen's, Templar and Watton, which included the villages Necton, Great Ellingham and Watton.

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.^[2]

Although Labour thus 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.^[2]

Shephard decided not to run again in 2005 and was elevated to a peerage. 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 2010 general election citing family reasons.^[3] 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.^[4]

Constituency profile

Workless claimants (registered jobseekers) were in November 2012 lower than the national average of 3.8%, at 3.0% of the population based on a statistical compilation by The Guardian.^[5]

Members of Parliament

	Member^[6]	Party
1885	William Tyssen-Amherst	Conservative
1892	Sir Thomas Leigh Hare	Conservative
1906	Richard Winfrey	Liberal
1923	Alan McLean	Conservative
1929	William Benjamin Taylor	Labour
1931	Alan McLean	Conservative
1935	Somerset de Chair	Conservative
1945	Sidney Dye	Labour
1951	Denys Bullard	Conservative
1955	Sidney Dye	Labour
1959 (b)	Albert Hilton	Labour
1964	Paul Hawkins	Conservative
1987	Gillian Shephard	Conservative
2005	Christopher Fraser	Conservative
2010	Elizabeth Truss	Conservative

Elections

Elections in the 2010s

General Election 2015: South West Norfolk^[7]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	Elizabeth Truss^[8]	25,515	50.9	+2.6
	UKIP	Paul Smyth^[9]	11,654	23.3	+17.0
	Labour	Peter Smith^[8]	8,649	17.3	−1.3
	Liberal Democrat	Rupert Moss-Eccardt^[10]	2,217	4.4	−17.2
	Green	Sandra Walmsley^[11]	2,075	4.1	+2.5
Majority			13,861	27.7	+1.0
Turnout				65.1	−1.1
	Conservative hold		Swing	-7.2

General Election 2010: South West Norfolk^[12]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	Elizabeth Truss	23,753	48.3	+3.4
	Liberal Democrat	Stephen Gordon	10,613	21.6	+2.4
	Labour	Peter Smith	9,119	18.6	-11.4
	UKIP	Kay Hipsey^[13]	3,061	6.2	+1.5
	BNP	Dennis Pearce^[14]	1,774	3.6	+3.6
	Green	Lori Allen	830	1.7	+1.7
Majority			13,140	26.7	+8.4
Turnout			49,150	66.2	+4.1
	Conservative hold		Swing

Elections in the 2000s

General Election 2005: South West Norfolk^[15]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	Christopher Fraser	25,881	46.9	−5.3
	Labour	Charmaine Morgan	15,795	28.7	−5.8
	Liberal Democrat	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^[16]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	Gillian Shephard	27,633	52.2	+10.2
	Labour	Mrs. Anne Margaret Hanson	18,267	34.5	−3.3
	Liberal Democrat	Gordon Richard Dean	5,681	10.7	−3.2
	UKIP	Ian Jonathan 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^[17]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	Gillian Shephard	24,694	42.0	−12.6
	Labour	Adrian Hefferman	22,230	37.8	+10.7
	Liberal Democrat	David J. Bucton	8,178	13.9	−6.3
	Referendum	Ronnie J.B. Hoare	3,694	6.3	N/A
Majority			2,434	4.2	−23.3
Turnout			58,796	73.1	−6.2
	Conservative hold		Swing	−11.65

General Election 1992: South West Norfolk^[18]^[19]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	Gillian Shephard	33,637	54.6	−3.0
	Labour	Ms. Mary Elizabeth Page	16,706	27.1	+6.1
	Liberal Democrat	John T. Marsh	11,237	18.2	−3.2
Majority			16,931	27.5	−8.7
Turnout			61,580	79.3	+3.3
	Conservative hold		Swing	−4.6

Elections in the 1980s

General Election 1987: South West Norfolk^[20]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	Gillian Shephard	32,519	57.6	+1.9
	Liberal	Malcolm John Scott	12,083	21.4	−5.3
	Labour	Ms. Mary Elizabeth Page	11,844	21.0	+3.4
Majority			20,436	36.2
Turnout				76.0
	Conservative hold		Swing

General Election 1983: South West Norfolk^[21]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Conservative	Paul Lancelot Hawkins	28,632	55.7
	Liberal	E.B.S. Baxter	13,722	26.7
	Labour	A.L. Rosenberg	9,072	17.6
Majority			14,910	29.0
Turnout				73.1
	Conservative hold		Swing

Elections in the 1970s

General Election 1979: South West Norfolk
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Conservative	Paul Lancelot Hawkins	24,767	54.80
	Labour	AL Rosenberg	14,063	21.12
	Liberal	B Baxter	6,363	14.08
Majority			10,704	23.69
Turnout				78.05
	Conservative hold		Swing

General Election October 1974: South West Norfolk
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Conservative	Paul Lancelot Hawkins	19,778	47.90
	Labour	H Toch	14,850	35.97
	Liberal	B Baxter	6,658	16.13
Majority			4,928	11.94
Turnout				76.86
	Conservative hold		Swing

General Election February 1974: South West Norfolk
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Conservative	Paul Lancelot Hawkins	20,430	46.24
	Labour	H Toch	14,387	32.56
	Liberal	KW Nash	8,986	20.34
	Independent Powellite	MM McNee	380	0.86
Majority			6,043	13.68
Turnout				82.94
	Conservative hold		Swing

General Election 1970: South West Norfolk
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Conservative	Paul Lancelot Hawkins	22,220	57.28
	Labour	Leslie J Potter	16,572	42.72
Majority			5,648	14.56
Turnout				80.46
	Conservative hold		Swing

Elections in the 1960s

General Election 1966: South West Norfolk
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Conservative	Paul Lancelot Hawkins	17,880	51.11
	Labour	Noel James Insley	17,105	48.89
Majority			775	2.22
Turnout				84.00
	Conservative hold		Swing

General Election 1964: South West Norfolk
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Conservative	Paul Lancelot Hawkins	16,728	49.55
	Labour	Albert Victor Hilton	16,605	49.19
	Independent	Victor Welch	427	1.26
Majority			123	0.36
Turnout				81.96
	Conservative gain from Labour		Swing

Elections in the 1950s

General Election 1959: South West Norfolk
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Labour	Albert Victor Hilton	16,858	50.12
	Conservative	Mary Elaine Kellett	16,780	49.88
Majority			78	0.23
Turnout				83.5
	Labour hold		Swing

South West Norfolk by-election, 1959
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour	Albert Victor Hilton	15,314	50.95	+0.66
	Conservative	Mary Elaine Kellett	13,960	46.4	-3.27
	Independent Nationalist	Andrew Fountaine	785	2.61	N/A
Majority			1,354
Turnout			30,059
	Labour hold		Swing

General Election 1955: South West Norfolk
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Labour	Sidney Dye	16,781	50.29
	Conservative	Denys Gradwell Bullard	16,588	49.71
Majority			193	0.58
Turnout				82.60
	Labour gain from Conservative		Swing

General Election 1951: South West Norfolk
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Conservative	Denys Gradwell Bullard	16,970	50.66
	Labour	Sidney Dye	16,528	49.34
Majority			442	1.32
Turnout				82.61
	Conservative gain from Labour		Swing

General Election 1950: South West Norfolk
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Labour	Sidney Dye	15,649	47.35
	Conservative	Denys Gradwell Bullard	15,389	46.57
	Liberal	George Stephen Dennis	2,009	6.08
Majority			260	0.79
Turnout				83.41
	Labour hold		Swing

Election in the 1940s

General Election 1945: Norfolk South Western
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Labour	Sidney Dye	15,091	50.09
	Conservative	Somerset Struben de Chair	15,038	49.91
Majority			53	0.18
Turnout				65.92
	Labour gain from Conservative		Swing

Elections in the 1930s

General Election 1935: Norfolk South Western
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Conservative	Somerset Struben de Chair	16,060	57.35
	Labour	Sidney Dye	11,943	42.65
Majority			4,117	14.70
Turnout				69.50
	Conservative hold		Swing

General Election 1931: Norfolk South Western
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Conservative	Alan McLean	19,614	66.34
	Labour	William Benjamin Taylor	9,952	33.66
Majority			9,662	32.68
Turnout				74.54
	Conservative hold		Swing

Elections in the 1920s

General Election 1929: South West Norfolk^[22]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour	William Benjamin Taylor	12,152	41.8
	Unionist	Alan McLean	11,382	39.1
	Liberal	Victor Diederichs Duval	5,556	19.0	n/a
Majority			770	2.7
Turnout
	Labour gain from Unionist		Swing

General Election 1924: South West Norfolk^[23]
Party		Candidate	Votes
	Unionist	Alan McLean	13,838
	Labour	William Benjamin Taylor	10,004
Majority
Turnout
	Unionist hold		Swing

General Election 1923: South West Norfolk
Party		Candidate	Votes	±
	Unionist	Alan McLean	11,289	n/a
	Labour	William Benjamin Taylor	9,779
Majority
Turnout
	Unionist hold		Swing

Winfrey

General Election 1922 : South West Norfolk ^[24]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	National Liberal	Sir Richard Winfrey	10,432	54.7	n/a
	Labour	William Benjamin Taylor	8,655	45.3	n/a
Majority			1,777	9.4	n/a
Turnout			19,087	59.1	n/a
	National Liberal hold		Swing	n/a

Elections in the 1910s

General Election 1918 South West Norfolk^[24]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Liberal	Sir Richard Winfrey	unopposed	n/a	n/a
	Liberal hold		Swing	n/a

endorsed by Coalition Government

General Election December 1910 South West Norfolk^[25]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Liberal	Richard Winfrey	4,176	52.7	+1.2
	Conservative	Albert Edward Stanley Clarke	3,745	47.3	-1.2
Majority			431	5.4	+2.4
Turnout			7,921	87.6	-3.5
	Liberal hold		Swing	+1.2

General Election January 1910 South West Norfolk^[25]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Liberal	Richard Winfrey	4,239	51.5	-4.2
	Conservative	Sir Thomas Leigh Hare	4,000	48.5	+4.2
Majority			239	3.0	-8.4
Turnout			8,239	91.1	+2.4
	Liberal hold		Swing	-4.2

Elections in the 1900s

Richard Winfrey

General Election 1906 South West Norfolk^[25]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Liberal	Richard Winfrey	4,416	55.7	+6.1
	Conservative	Sir Thomas Leigh Hare	3,513	44.3	-6.1
Majority			903	10.4	12.2
Turnout			7,929	88.7	+4.7
	Liberal gain from Conservative		Swing	+6.1

General Election 1900 South West Norfolk^[25]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	Thomas Leigh Hare	3,702	50.4	-0.9
	Liberal	Richard Winfrey	3,636	49.6	+0.9
Majority			66	0.8	-1.8
Turnout			7,338	84.0	-0.8
	Conservative hold		Swing	-0.9

General Election 1895 South West Norfolk^[25]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Conservative	Thomas Leigh Hare	3,968	51.3
	Liberal	Richard Winfrey	3,762	48.7
Majority			206	2.6
Turnout			7,730	84.8
	Conservative hold		Swing

Notes and references

Notes

↑ A county constituency (for the purposes of election expenses and type of returning officer)
↑ 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

↑ "Electorate Figures - Boundary Commission for England". 2011 Electorate Figures. Boundary Commission for England. 4 March 2011. Retrieved 13 March 2011.
1 2 3 Richard Kimber's Political science Resources: UK General Elections since 1832
↑ BBC News; MP Fraser poised to leave Commons, 28 May 2009
↑ Daily Telegraph MPs' expenses: Christopher Fraser says that claim for trees was necessary 26 May 2009
↑ Unemployment claimants by constituency The Guardian
↑ Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "N" (part 2)
↑ "Election Data 2015". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 17 October 2015. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
1 2 http://electionresults.blogspot.co.uk/2013/05/norfolk-south-west-2015.html
↑ http://www.ukipswnorfolk.org/#!Paul-Smyth-chosen-as-UKIP-PPC-for-South-West-Norfolk/c140y/54fec8ae0cf245859793e648
↑ http://www.libdems.org.uk/general_election_candidates#East of England
↑ "Candidates". YourNextMP. Retrieved 1 March 2015.
↑ "Election Data 2010". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 17 October 2015. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
↑ http://candidates.ukip.org/index.php?pg=show&eid=399
↑ http://bnp.org.uk/2010/03/tory-councillors-narrowly-defeated-in-attempt-to-approve-king%E2%80%99s-lynn-mosque-after-bnp-objections-dominate-hearing/
↑ "Election Data 2005". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
↑ "Election Data 2001". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
↑ "Election Data 1997". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
↑ "Election Data 1992". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
↑ "UK General Election results April 1992". Richard Kimber's Political Science Resources. Politics Resources. 9 April 1992. Retrieved 2010-12-06.
↑ "Election Data 1987". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
↑ "Election Data 1983". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
↑ Craig, F. W. S. (1983). British parliamentary election results 1918-1949 (3 ed.). Chichester: Parliamentary Research Services. ISBN 0-900178-06-X.
↑ Craig, F. W. S. (1983). British parliamentary election results 1918-1949 (3 ed.). Chichester: Parliamentary Research Services. ISBN 0-900178-06-X.
1 2 Craig, F. W. S. (1983). British parliamentary election results 1918-1949 (3 ed.). Chichester: Parliamentary Research Services. ISBN 0-900178-06-X.
1 2 3 4 5 British parliamentary election results, 1885-1918 (Craig)

Constituencies in the East of England (58)

Conservative (52)	Basildon and Billericay Bedford Braintree Brentwood and Ongar Broadland Broxbourne Bury St Edmunds Castle Point Central Suffolk and North Ipswich Chelmsford Colchester Epping Forest Great Yarmouth Harlow Harwich and North Essex Hemel Hempstead Hertford and Stortford Hertsmere Hitchin and Harpenden Huntingdon Ipswich Maldon Mid Bedfordshire Mid Norfolk North East Bedfordshire North East Cambridgeshire North East Hertfordshire North West Cambridgeshire North West Norfolk Norwich North Peterborough Rayleigh and Wickford Rochford and Southend East Saffron Walden St Albans South Basildon and East Thurrock South Cambridgeshire South East Cambridgeshire Southend West South Norfolk South Suffolk South West Bedfordshire South West Hertfordshire South West Norfolk Stevenage Suffolk Coastal Thurrock Watford Waveney Welwyn Hatfield West Suffolk Witham

Labour (4)	Cambridge Luton North Luton South Norwich South

Liberal Democrats (1)	North Norfolk

UK Independence Party (1)	Clacton

East of England European constituency: Conservative (3) Labour (1) UKIP (3)

Coordinates: 52°30′N 0°36′E / 52.5°N 0.6°E / 52.5; 0.6

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