North East Hertfordshire | |
---|---|
County constituency for the House of Commons | |
County | Hertfordshire |
Electorate | 76,849 (2023) [1] |
Major settlements | Letchworth, Baldock and Royston |
Current constituency | |
Created | 1997 |
Member of Parliament | Chris Hinchliff (Labour) |
Seats | One |
Created from | Hertfordshire North, Hertford and Stortford, Stevenage |
North East Hertfordshire is a constituency [n 1] represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2024 by Chris Hinchliff of the Labour Party. [n 2]
The constituency includes the towns of Letchworth, Baldock and Royston and the undulating rural area, strewn with traditional English villages [2] primarily to their south, most of which are within the more accessible parts of the London Commuter Belt and west of London Stansted Airport.
The constituency was created for the 1997 general election largely from parts of the abolished constituency of North Hertfordshire, including Letchworth, Baldock and Royston. It also included rural areas of the District of East Hertfordshire transferred from Hertford and Stortford and Stevenage.
The seat had been held since its creation for the Conservative Party with comfortable majorities by Sir Oliver Heald, who was previously MP for North Hertfordshire.
In the 2024 general election, the seat was lost to Labour candidate Chris Hinchliff, a councillor for the North Herts District Council.
Minor changes due to revision of local authority wards.
Following a local government boundary review which came into effect in May 2023, [5] [6] the part in the District of East Hertfordshire now comprise the wards of: Aston, Datchworth & Walkern (Bennington and Walkern parishes); Braughing & Standon; Buntingford; Hertford Rural; Little Hadham & The Pelhams; The Mundens; Ware Rural (Thundridge parish); Watton-at-Stone. [7]
Further to the 2023 Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies, which came into effect for the 2024 general election, the composition of the constituency (as defined on 1 December 2020) was unchanged. [8]
Hertfordshire North, Hertford & Stortford and Stevenage prior to 1997
Election | Member [9] | Party | |
---|---|---|---|
1997 | Sir Oliver Heald | Conservative | |
2024 | Chris Hinchliff | Labour | |
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Labour | Chris Hinchliff [12] | 18,358 | 35.0 | +11.3 | |
Conservative | Nikki da Costa [13] | 16,435 | 31.3 | −25.3 | |
Reform UK | Steven Adelantado [14] | 8,462 | 16.1 | N/A | |
Liberal Democrats | Ruth Brown [15] | 5,463 | 10.4 | −5.1 | |
Green | Vicky Burt [16] | 3,802 | 7.2 | +2.9 | |
Majority | 1,923 | 3.7 | N/A | ||
Turnout | 52,520 | 67.6 | −5.1 | ||
Registered electors | 77,090 | ||||
Labour gain from Conservative | Swing | 18.3 |
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Conservative | Oliver Heald | 31,293 | 56.6 | –2.0 | |
Labour | Kelley Green | 13,104 | 23.7 | –4.6 | |
Liberal Democrats | Amy Finch | 8,563 | 15.5 | +7.8 | |
Green | Tim Lee | 2,367 | 4.3 | –1.0 | |
Majority | 18,189 | 32.9 | +2.6 | ||
Turnout | 55,327 | 72.7 | –0.7 | ||
Conservative hold | Swing | +1.3 |
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Conservative | Oliver Heald | 32,587 | 58.6 | +3.2 | |
Labour | Doug Swanney | 15,752 | 28.3 | +9.4 | |
Liberal Democrats | Nicky Shepard | 4,276 | 7.7 | +0.1 | |
Green | Tim Lee | 2,965 | 5.3 | +0.1 | |
Majority | 16,835 | 30.3 | –6.2 | ||
Turnout | 55,764 | 73.4 | +2.7 | ||
Conservative hold | Swing | –3.1 |
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Conservative | Oliver Heald | 28,949 | 55.4 | +1.9 | |
Labour | Chris York [24] | 9,869 | 18.9 | +2.5 | |
UKIP | William Compton [25] | 6,728 | 12.9 | +8.8 | |
Liberal Democrats | Joe Jordan [26] | 3,952 | 7.6 | −15.8 | |
Green | Mario May [27] [28] | 2,789 | 5.2 | +3.5 | |
Majority | 19,080 | 36.5 | +6.4 | ||
Turnout | 52,500 | 70.7 | +0.9 | ||
Conservative hold | Swing | −0.3 |
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Conservative | Oliver Heald | 26,995 | 53.5 | +6.2 | |
Liberal Democrats | Hugh Annand | 11,801 | 23.4 | +2.0 | |
Labour | David Kirkman | 8,291 | 16.4 | −11.6 | |
UKIP | Adrianne Smyth | 2,075 | 4.1 | +0.8 | |
Green | Rosemary Bland | 875 | 1.7 | New | |
Independent | Richard Campbell | 209 | 0.4 | New | |
Your Right To Democracy Party Limited | David Ralph | 143 | 0.3 | New | |
Independent | Philip Reichardt | 36 | 0.1 | New | |
Majority | 15,194 | 30.1 | +10.8 | ||
Turnout | 50,425 | 69.8 | +3.2 | ||
Conservative hold | Swing |
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Conservative | Oliver Heald | 22,402 | 47.3 | +3.2 | |
Labour | Andy Harrop | 13,264 | 28.0 | −8.4 | |
Liberal Democrats | Iain Coleman | 10,147 | 21.4 | +4.2 | |
UKIP | David Hitchman | 1,561 | 3.3 | +1.0 | |
Majority | 9,138 | 19.3 | +11.6 | ||
Turnout | 47,374 | 65.6 | +0.6 | ||
Conservative hold | Swing | +5.8 |
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Conservative | Oliver Heald | 19,695 | 44.1 | +2.4 | |
Labour | Ivan Gibbons | 16,251 | 36.4 | +0.6 | |
Liberal Democrats | Alison Kingman | 7,686 | 17.2 | −1.0 | |
UKIP | Malcolm Virgo | 1,013 | 2.3 | New | |
Majority | 3,444 | 7.7 | +1.8 | ||
Turnout | 44,645 | 65.0 | −12.1 | ||
Conservative hold | Swing |
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Conservative | Oliver Heald | 21,712 | 41.7 | ||
Labour | Ivan Gibbons | 18,624 | 35.8 | ||
Liberal Democrats | Stephen Jarvis | 9,493 | 18.2 | ||
Referendum | Jonathan Grose | 2,166 | 4.2 | ||
Majority | 3,088 | 5.9 | |||
Turnout | 51,995 | 77.1 | |||
Conservative win (new seat) |
Note: Although a Conservative win due to the seat being newly created, the winning candidate was the previous MP for North Hertfordshire, which was abolished and largely reformed as North East Hertfordshire.
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The River Rib originates near the East Hertfordshire village of Therfield and runs parallel with the A10 through Chipping, Wyddial, Buntingford, Westmill, Braughing, Puckeridge and Standon, before dividing the villages of Thundridge and Wadesmill and continuing until it reaches its confluence with the River Lea near Hertford.
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The SG postcode area, also known as the Stevenage postcode area, is a group of nineteen postcode districts in England, within fifteen post towns. These cover north Hertfordshire and east Bedfordshire, plus a small part of south-west Cambridgeshire and a very small part of Essex.
The High Sheriff of Hertfordshire was an ancient Sheriff title originating in the time of the Angles, not long after the foundation of the Kingdom of England, which was in existence for around a thousand years. On 1 April 1974, under the provisions of the Local Government Act 1972, the title of Sheriff of Hertfordshire was retitled High Sheriff of Hertfordshire. The High Shrievalties are the oldest secular titles under the Crown in England and Wales, their purpose being to represent the monarch at a local level, historically in the shires.
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