List of Parliamentary constituencies in Hertfordshire

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).

The county of Hertfordshire in relation to England

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   Charles Walker †[4]   Sean Waters ‡
Hemel Hempstead CC 74,035 14,563 Michael Penning † Nabila Ahmed ‡
Hertford and Stortford CC 81,765 19,620 Julie Marson † Chris Vince ‡
Hertsmere CC 73,971 21,313 Oliver Dowden † Holly Kal-Weiss ‡
Hitchin and Harpenden CC 76,323 6,895 Bim Afolami † Sam Collins ¤
North East Hertfordshire CC 76,123 18,189 Oliver Heald † Kelley Green ‡
South West Hertfordshire CC 80,499 14,408 Gagan Mohindra † David Gauke
St Albans CC 73,727 6,293 Daisy Cooper ¤ Anne Main †
Stevenage CC 71,562 8,562 Stephen McPartland † Jill Borcherds ‡
Watford BC 83,359 4,433 Dean Russell † Chris Ostrowski ‡
Welwyn Hatfield CC 74,892 10,955 Grant Shapps † Rosie Newbigging ‡

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
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% 1.6% 10 1
Labour 141,143 20.1% 8.6% 0 0
Liberal Democrats 110,006 18.6% 8.4% 1 1
Greens 15,132 3.3% 0.2% 0 0
Others 17,764 0.6% 1.6% 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
  • Oct 1974
  • 1979
  • 1983
  • 1987
  • 1992
  • 1997
  • 2001
  • 2005
  • 2010
  • 2015
  • 2017
  • 2019

Timeline
  Former constituency
  * Constituency for the 2017 United Kingdom general election
Constituency Years
1290–12981298–13071307–18521852–18851885–19181918–19451945–19501950–19551955–19741974–19831983–19971997–*
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 A. Smith E. Cecil A. H. Smith Rolleston Billing → Sueter →
Hitchin Dimsdale Hudson Bertram Hillier R. Cecil Kindersley Knebworth Wilson Berry
St Albans J. W. Grimston Gibbs Slack Carlile Fremantle J. Grimston
Watford Halsey Micklem Ward Herbert Helmore
Hemel Hempstead Talbot J. Davidson Dunn J. Davidson 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 Taylor Maudling Transferred to Greater London
Hemel Hempstead (1945–83, 97-) / West Hertfordshire (1983) Davidson Allason Corbett Lyell Jones McWalter Penning
Hertford / & Stevenage (1974) / H & Stortford (1983) Walker-Smith Lindsay Williams Wells Prisk Marson
Hitchin / North Hertfordshire (1983) / NE Hertfordshire (1997) Jones Fisher Maddan Williams Stewart Heald
St Albans Dumpleton Grimston Goodhew Lilley Pollard Main Cooper
Watford Freeman Farey-Jones Tuck Garel-Jones Ward Harrington Russell
Hertfordshire SW Longden Dodsworth Page Gauke → Mohindra
Hertfordshire E / Broxbourne (1983) Walker-Smith Roe Walker
Hertfordshire South / Hertsmere (1983) Parkinson Clappison Dowden
Welwyn and Hatfield Lindsay Hayman Murphy Evans Johnson Shapps
Stevenage Wood Follett McPartland
Hitchin and Harpenden Lilley 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 requires |journal= (help)
  3. "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 requires |journal= (help)
  11. David Boothroyd. "Parliamentary Constituencies in the unreformed House". David Boothroyd. Retrieved 9 November 2009.
  12. "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.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.