Mid Sussex | |
---|---|
County constituency for the House of Commons | |
County | West Sussex |
Electorate | 85,140 (December 2019) [1] |
Major settlements | East Grinstead, Haywards Heath and Burgess Hill |
Current constituency | |
Created | 1974 |
Member of Parliament | Mims Davies (Conservative) |
Seats | One |
Created from | East Grinstead and Lewes |
Mid Sussex is a constituency [n 1] represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament from 2019 by Mims Davies, a Conservative. [2] [n 2] She is currently a minister in the Department for Work and Pensions.
The constituency is in the north east of West Sussex bordering East Sussex, containing relatively small villages and the towns of East Grinstead, Haywards Heath and Burgess Hill, all of which have green buffers preventing them from being contiguous and rail connections to Brighton, London Gatwick Airport and the City of London. The motorway network is also close by, the M23 providing access to this, west of the main towns.
Income levels are on average considerably higher than the national average [3] and levels of rented [4] and social housing [3] are below the national average, particularly levels seen in cities.
1974–1983: The Urban Districts of Burgess Hill and Cuckfield, and the Rural District of Cuckfield.
1983–1997: The District of Mid Sussex wards of Ardingly, Bolney, Burgess Hill Chanctonbury, Burgess Hill Franklands, Burgess Hill North, Burgess Hill St Andrews, Burgess Hill Town, Burgess Hill West, Clayton, Cuckfield, East Grinstead East, East Grinstead North, East Grinstead South, East Grinstead West, Haywards Heath Ashenground, Haywards Heath Bentswood, Haywards Heath Franklands, Haywards Heath Harlands, Haywards Heath Heath, Horsted Keynes, Hurstpierpoint, Keymer, Lindfield Rural, Lindfield Urban, and West Hoathly.
1997–2010: The District of Mid Sussex wards of Ardingly, Burgess Hill Chanctonbury, Burgess Hill Franklands, Burgess Hill North, Burgess Hill St Andrews, Burgess Hill Town, Burgess Hill West, Cuckfield, East Grinstead East, East Grinstead North, East Grinstead South, East Grinstead West, Haywards Heath Ashenground, Haywards Heath Bentswood, Haywards Heath Franklands, Haywards Heath Harlands, Haywards Heath Heath, Horsted Keynes, Lindfield Rural, Lindfield Urban, and West Hoathly.
2010–present: The District of Mid Sussex wards of Ashurst Wood, Bolney, Burgess Hill Dunstall, Burgess Hill Franklands, Burgess Hill Leylands, Burgess Hill Meeds, Burgess Hill St Andrews, Burgess Hill Victoria, Cuckfield, East Grinstead Ashplats, East Grinstead Baldwins, East Grinstead Herontye, East Grinstead Imberhorne, East Grinstead Town, Haywards Heath Ashenground, Haywards Heath Bentswood, Haywards Heath Franklands, Haywards Heath Heath, Haywards Heath Lucastes, High Weald, and Lindfield.
Further to the 2023 Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies, enacted by the Parliamentary Constituencies Order 2023, from the next general election, due by January 2025, the constituency will be composed of the following (as they existed on 1 December 2020):
The electorate will be reduced to bring it within the permitted range by transferring northern parts, including the town of East Grinstead to the newly created constituency of East Grinstead and Uckfield. This will be partly offset by adding the Hassocks, and Hurstpierpoint and Downs wards from Arundel and South Downs.
Following a local government boundary review which came into effect in May 2023 [6] [7] , the constituency will now comprise the following wards of the District of Mid Sussex from the next general election:
The constituency was created in 1974 from parts of the seats of Lewes and East Grinstead, and has undergone significant boundary changes at every periodical review that it has been around for. Prior to 1973, the local government district had actually been a part of East Sussex, but as a result of delayed implementation of the Local Government Act 1972, it was almost wholly moved into West Sussex.
At the 1983 general election, it gained some of the wards (including East Grinstead itself) previously contained in the East Grinstead constituency (which disappeared at that election, its last MP Geoffrey Johnson Smith contested and won the new seat of Wealden in East Sussex), and at the 1997 election, it gained many of the semi-rural wards with smaller communities between East Grinstead and Crawley.
From its creation in 1983 to the present, it has been a Conservative seat, with the primary opposition until the 2015 election being the Liberal Democrats and their predecessors the Liberal Party. In 2015, there was a severe fall in Liberal Democrats support. Labour's candidate come second in the seat for the first time in its history. In 2017, Labour consolidated this lead at the 2017 General Election by gaining almost double the votes of the Liberal Democrats.
In the 2016 European Union referendum, Mid Sussex voted for the United Kingdom to remain a member of the European Union. Despite this, Soames called for MPs to back Theresa May's withdrawal agreement. However, he was one of the 21 Conservative rebels who voted to allow Parliament to vote to legislate to prevent a no deal Brexit on 3 September 2019, and subsequently became an independent, after the rebels had the Conservative whip removed. He then decided not to stand for re-election although he had the whip restored before dissolution. [9]
Election | Member [10] | Party | |
---|---|---|---|
Feb 1974 | Tim Renton | Conservative | |
1997 | Sir Nicholas Soames | Conservative | |
2019 | Independent | ||
Conservative | |||
2019 | Mims Davies | Conservative |
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Conservative | Kristy Adams [11] | ||||
Liberal Democrats | Alison Bennett [12] | ||||
Reform UK | Gary Johnson [13] | ||||
Green | Deanna Nicholson [13] | ||||
Labour | Dave Rowntree [14] | ||||
Majority | |||||
Turnout |
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Conservative | Mims Davies | 33,455 | 53.3 | −3.6 | |
Liberal Democrats | Robert Eggleston | 15,258 | 24.3 | +11.6 | |
Labour | Gemma Bolton | 11,218 | 17.9 | −7.1 | |
Green | Deanna Nicholson | 2,234 | 3.6 | +1.1 | |
Monster Raving Loony | Baron Von Thunderclap | 550 | 0.9 | +0.1 | |
Advance | Brett Mortensen | 47 | 0.1 | New | |
Majority | 18,197 | 29.0 | −2.9 | ||
Turnout | 62,762 | 73.7 | +0.9 | ||
Conservative hold | Swing | −7.6 | |||
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Conservative | Nicholas Soames | 35,082 | 56.9 | +0.8 | |
Labour | Greg Mountain | 15,409 | 25.0 | +11.1 | |
Liberal Democrats | Sarah Osborne | 7,855 | 12.7 | +1.2 | |
Green | Chris Jerrey | 1,571 | 2.5 | −1.8 | |
UKIP | Toby Brothers | 1,251 | 2.0 | −10.0 | |
Monster Raving Loony | Baron Von Thunderclap | 464 | 0.8 | +0.2 | |
Majority | 19,673 | 31.9 | −10.3 | ||
Turnout | 61,632 | 72.8 | +0.5 | ||
Conservative hold | Swing | −5.15 | |||
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Conservative | Nicholas Soames | 32,268 | 56.1 | +5.4 | |
Labour | Greg Mountain | 7,982 | 13.9 | +7.3 | |
UKIP | Toby Brothers | 6,898 | 12.0 | +9.5 | |
Liberal Democrats | Daisy Cooper [20] | 6,604 | 11.5 | −26.0 | |
Green | Miranda Diboll [21] | 2,453 | 4.3 | +3.1 | |
Independent | Beki Adam [22] | 958 | 1.7 | New | |
Monster Raving Loony | Baron Von Thunderclap | 329 | 0.6 | +0.1 | |
Majority | 24,286 | 42.2 | +29.0 | ||
Turnout | 57,492 | 72.3 | −0.1 | ||
Conservative hold | Swing | −0.95 | |||
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Conservative | Nicholas Soames | 28,329 | 50.7 | +2.5 | |
Liberal Democrats | Serena Tierney | 20,927 | 37.5 | +1.8 | |
Labour | David Boot | 3,689 | 6.6 | –6.2 | |
UKIP | Marc Montgomery | 1,423 | 2.5 | –0.7 | |
Green | Paul Brown | 645 | 1.2 | New | |
BNP | Stuart Minihane | 583 | 1.0 | New | |
Monster Raving Loony | Baron von Thunderclap | 259 | 0.5 | New | |
Majority | 7,402 | 13.2 | +0.7 | ||
Turnout | 55,855 | 72.4 | +0.35 | ||
Conservative hold | Swing | +1.3 | |||
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Conservative | Nicholas Soames | 23,765 | 48.0 | +1.8 | |
Liberal Democrats | Serena Tierney | 17,875 | 36.1 | +5.0 | |
Labour | Robert Fromant | 6,280 | 12.7 | −6.3 | |
UKIP | Harold Piggott | 1,574 | 3.2 | +0.7 | |
Majority | 5,890 | 11.9 | -3.2 | ||
Turnout | 49,494 | 68.6 | +3.7 | ||
Conservative hold | Swing | −1.6 | |||
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Conservative | Nicholas Soames | 21,150 | 46.2 | +2.7 | |
Liberal Democrats | Lesley Wilkins | 14,252 | 31.1 | +0.5 | |
Labour | Paul Mitchell | 8,693 | 19.0 | +0.4 | |
UKIP | Petrina Holdsworth | 1,126 | 2.5 | +1.4 | |
Monster Raving Loony | Baron Von Thunderclap Berry | 601 | 1.3 | New | |
Majority | 6,898 | 15.1 | +2.2 | ||
Turnout | 45,822 | 64.9 | −12.7 | ||
Conservative hold | Swing | ||||
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Conservative | Nicholas Soames | 23,231 | 43.5 | −15.5 | |
Liberal Democrats | Margaret Collins | 16,377 | 30.6 | +2.4 | |
Labour | Mervyn Hamilton | 9,969 | 18.6 | +8.0 | |
Referendum | Tam Large | 3,146 | 5.9 | New | |
UKIP | J.V. Barnett | 606 | 1.1 | New | |
Justice and Renewal Independent Party | Ernest Tudway | 134 | 0.3 | New | |
Majority | 6,854 | 12.9 | -17.9 | ||
Turnout | 53,463 | 77.6 | |||
Conservative hold | Swing | ||||
This constituency underwent boundary changes between the 1992 and 1997 general elections and thus change in share of vote is based on a notional calculation.
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Conservative | Tim Renton | 39,524 | 59.0 | −2.1 | |
Liberal Democrats | Margaret Collins | 18,996 | 28.4 | −3.1 | |
Labour | L C Gregory | 6,951 | 10.4 | +3.0 | |
Green | H G Stevens | 772 | 1.1 | New | |
Monster Raving Loony | P B Berry | 392 | 0.6 | New | |
Independent | P D Hodkin | 246 | 0.4 | New | |
Natural Law | A M A Hankey | 89 | 0.1 | New | |
Majority | 20,528 | 30.6 | +1.0 | ||
Turnout | 66,970 | 82.9 | +5.7 | ||
Conservative hold | Swing | ||||
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Conservative | Tim Renton | 37,781 | 61.1 | −0.3 | |
Liberal | Nicholas Westbrook | 19,489 | 31.5 | −0.8 | |
Labour | Robert Hughes | 4,573 | 7.4 | +1.4 | |
Majority | 18,292 | 29.6 | +0.5 | ||
Turnout | 61,843 | 77.2 | +2.5 | ||
Conservative hold | Swing | ||||
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Conservative | Tim Renton | 35,310 | 61.4 | ||
Liberal | Jack Campbell | 18,566 | 32.3 | ||
Labour | Patricia Hawkes | 3,470 | 6.0 | ||
Independent | J Bray | 196 | 0.3 | ||
Majority | 16,744 | 29.1 | |||
Turnout | 57,542 | 74.7 | |||
Conservative hold | Swing | ||||
This constituency underwent boundary changes between the 1979 and 1983 general elections and thus calculation of the change in share of vote is not possible.
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Conservative | Tim Renton | 32,548 | 61.2 | +7.3 | |
Liberal | Jack Campbell | 11,705 | 22.0 | -6.1 | |
Labour | Des Turner | 8,260 | 15.5 | -2.5 | |
Ind. Conservative | S M H Haslett | 697 | 1.3 | New | |
Majority | 20,843 | 39.2 | +13.4 | ||
Turnout | 53,210 | 78.0 | +1.6 | ||
Conservative hold | Swing | ||||
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Conservative | Tim Renton | 25,126 | 53.9 | -0.2 | |
Liberal | Bob Symes | 13,129 | 28.1 | -1.9 | |
Labour | M R Fraser | 8,404 | 18.0 | +2.2 | |
Majority | 11,997 | 25.8 | +1.7 | ||
Turnout | 46,659 | 76.4 | -6.9 | ||
Conservative hold | Swing | ||||
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Conservative | Tim Renton | 27,317 | 54.1 | ||
Liberal | Bob Symes | 15,162 | 30.0 | ||
Labour | M R Fraser | 7,993 | 15.8 | ||
Majority | 12,155 | 24.1 | |||
Turnout | 50,472 | 83.3 | |||
Conservative win (new seat) |
West Sussex is a ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Surrey to the north, East Sussex to the east, the English Channel to the south, and Hampshire to the west. The largest settlement is Crawley, and the county town is the city of Chichester.
Burgess Hill is a town and civil parish in West Sussex, England, close to the border with East Sussex, on the edge of the South Downs National Park, 39 mi (63 km) south of London, 10 mi (16 km) north of Brighton and Hove, and 29 mi (47 km) northeast of the county town, Chichester. It had an area of 3.7 sq mi (9.6 km2) and a population of 30,635 at the 2011 Census, making it the fourth most populous parish in the county and the most populous in the Mid Sussex District. Other nearby towns include Haywards Heath to the northeast and Lewes, the county town of East Sussex, to the southeast.
Mid Sussex is a local government district in West Sussex, England. The largest town is Haywards Heath, where the council is based. The district also contains the towns of Burgess Hill and East Grinstead plus surrounding rural areas, including many villages. The district includes part of the South Downs National Park and part of the designated Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty of High Weald, including sections of Ashdown Forest. The district contains most headwaters of the River Ouse. Its largest body of water is Ardingly reservoir which is used by watersports clubs. At the 2021 census the district had a population of 152,949.
Haywards Heath is a town in West Sussex, England, 36 miles (58 km) south of London, 14 miles (23 km) north of Brighton, 13 miles (21 km) south of Gatwick Airport and 31 miles (50 km) northeast of the county town, Chichester. Nearby towns include Burgess Hill to the southwest, Horsham to the northwest, Crawley northwest and East Grinstead northeast. With only a relatively small number of jobs available in the immediate vicinity, mostly in the agricultural or service sector, many residents work "remotely" or commute daily via road or rail to London, Brighton, Crawley or Gatwick Airport for work.
Arundel and South Downs is a constituency in West Sussex created in 1997 and represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2019 by Andrew Griffith of the Conservative Party.
Lewes is a constituency in East Sussex represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2015 by Maria Caulfield, a Conservative.
Horsham is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament, centred on the eponymous town in West Sussex, its former rural district and part of another rural district. Its Member of Parliament (MP) was Francis Maude between 1997 and 2015; since then it has been Jeremy Quin, both of the Conservative Party.
The Mid Sussex Football League is an association football league formed in 1900. The league is headed by the Premier Division which is at level eleven of the English football league system and member clubs are based in East Sussex, West Sussex and south-eastern Surrey. Current sponsors are Gray Hooper Holt LLP and the league is currently known as the Gray Hooper Holt LLP Mid Sussex League.
East Grinstead was a parliamentary constituency in the Kingdom of England, the Kingdom of Great Britain, and the United Kingdom. It first existed as a Parliamentary borough from 1307, returning two Members of Parliament to the House of Commons elected by the bloc vote system. The borough was disfranchised under the Reform Act 1832, but the name was revived at the 1885 election when the Redistribution of Seats Act created a new single-member county division of the same name.
Mid Sussex District Council is elected every four years.
The Burgess Hill Academy is a co-educational secondary school located in central Burgess Hill, West Sussex, England.
The Mid Sussex Times is a local weekly paper for the region of Mid Sussex in West Sussex, but also covering news from the localities of East Sussex. The two major towns served by the paper are Burgess Hill and Haywards Heath, including news from and around the surrounding parishes of Cuckfield, Lindfield, Hassocks, Chailey, and as far north as Forest Row.
St Wilfrid's Church is an Anglican church in the town of Haywards Heath in the district of Mid Sussex, one of seven local government districts in the English county of West Sussex. It is Haywards Heath's parish church, and is the mother church to two of the town's four other Anglican churches. Designed in the Decorated Gothic style by George Frederick Bodley, it was built between 1863 and 1865 as the town began to grow rapidly, and stands in a prominent position on the highest ground in the area. English Heritage has listed it at Grade II* for its architectural and historical importance.
Cuckfield Town is a football club based in Cuckfield, West Sussex, England that currently plays in the Mid-Sussex League Division One.
East Grinstead and Uckfield is a proposed constituency of the House of Commons in the UK Parliament. Further to the completion of the 2023 Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies, it will first be contested at the next general election.