North East Somerset (UK Parliament constituency)

North East Somerset
County constituency for the House of Commons
Location of North East Somerset in Somerset
Location of Somerset within England
County	Somerset
Electorate	70,070 (2018) [1]
Major settlements	Chew Magna, Keynsham, Midsomer Norton and Radstock
Current constituency
Created	2010
Member of Parliament	Jacob Rees-Mogg (Conservative)
Seats	One
Created from	Wansdyke (19 wards) Bath constituency (two wards)

North East Somerset is a constituency ^{[n 1]} represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament, since it was created for the 2010 general election, by Jacob Rees-Mogg of the Conservative Party. ^{[n 2]}

For the next general election, the seat will be subject to major boundary changes and will be renamed North East Somerset and Hanham (see below). ^[2]

Boundaries

The constituency covers the part of Bath and North East Somerset District that is not in the Bath constituency and as such contains 18 electoral wards wholly in the constituency and two parishes in Newbridge ward of the Bath and North East Somerset:

• Bathavon North – the Civil Parishes ('Parishes') of Batheaston, Bathford, Bathampton, Charlcombe, St Catherine and Swainswick
• Bathavon South – the Parishes of Camerton, Claverton, Combe Hay, Dunkerton, Englishcombe, Freshford, Hinton Charterhouse, Marksbury, Monkton Combe, Priston, Shoscombe, South Stoke and Wellow
• Chew Valley – the Parishes of Chew Magna, Chew Stoke, Compton Martin, Nempnett Thrubwell, Norton Malreward, Stanton Drew, Stowey-Sutton and Ubley
• Clutton and Farmborough – the Parishes of Chelwood, Clutton and Farmborough
• High Littleton – the Parishes of Farrington Gurney and High Littleton
• Keynsham North
• Keynsham South
• Keynsham East
• Mendip – the Parishes of Cameley, East Harptree, Hinton Blewett and West Harptree
• Midsomer Norton North
• Midsomer Norton Redfield
• Newbridge – the Parishes of Kelston and North Stoke
• Paulton – the Parish of Paulton
• Peasedown – the Parish of Peasedown St John
• Publow and Whitchurch – the Parishes of Publow and Whitchurch
• Radstock
• Saltford – the Parishes of Compton Dando, Corston, Newton St Loe and Saltford
• Timsbury – the Parish of Timsbury
• Westfield ^[3]

Origin of first boundaries

Parliament accepted the Boundary Commission's Fifth Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies which transferred all the electoral wards in Wandsyke constituency save for its four wards in South Gloucestershire to this new seat. ^{[n 3]} To compensate the new seat gained the whole of the large wards in the valley of the City, Bathavon North, and the rest of Bathavon South, both from the Bath constituency.

Proposed boundary changes

Further to the completion of the 2023 Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies, the seat will be subject to major boundary changes, with south-eastern areas, including the communities of Midsomer Norton, Radstock and Peasedown St John, being incorporated into the newly created constituency of Frome and East Somerset, and the Bathavon North ward transferred to Bath. To compensate, the boundaries will be extended northwards into the District of South Gloucestershire, adding the wards of Bitton and Oldland Common, Hanham, Longwell Green, and Parkwall and Warmley. As a consequence, the constituency will be renamed North East Somerset and Hanham , to be first contested at the next general election. ^[2]

Constituency profile

Map of current boundaries

This area is marked by significant agriculture and green belts around almost all of its settlements, which consist largely of detached and semi-detached properties, ^[4] with a low rate of unemployment ^[5] and negligible social housing tenancy. ^[6]

An unusually shaped seat that takes in all the western part of the Bath and North East Somerset council area, and the rural outskirts of Bath in the east, meaning the Bath constituency is entirely surrounded by a thin belt of North East Somerset. The seat contains some contrasting areas. The northern parts of the seat, especially the town of Keynsham, are commuter areas for Bath and Bristol. ^[7] To the west the seat is more rural, covering the patchwork of farmland and rural villages that make up the Chew Valley. The southern part around Midsomer Norton and Radstock is part of the old Somerset Coalfield. The last of the coal mines closed in the 1970s, ^[8] to be replaced by light industry, but the close knit industrial heritage of the area remains. ^[9]

North East Somerset is estimated to have voted to Leave the European Union by 51.6% in the 2016 referendum on the UK's membership of the EU. ^{[10] [11] [12]}

Members of Parliament

Election		Member	Party
	2010	Jacob Rees-Mogg	Conservative

Elections

Elections in the 2010s

Candidates at the North East Somerset 2019 general election declaration

General election 2019: North East Somerset ^{[13] [14]}

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Jacob Rees-Mogg	28,360	50.4	−3.2
	Labour	Mark Huband	13,631	24.2	−10.5
	Liberal Democrats	Nick Coates	12,422	22.1	+13.8
	Green	Fay Whitfield	1,423	2.5	+0.2
	Independent	Shaun Hughes	472	0.8	−0.3
Majority			14,729	26.2	+7.3
Turnout			56,308	76.4	+0.7
	Conservative hold		Swing	+3.6

See also: Opinion polling for the 2019 United Kingdom general election § North East Somerset

General election 2017: North East Somerset ^{[15] [16] [17] [18]}

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Jacob Rees-Mogg	28,992	53.6	+3.8
	Labour	Robin Moss	18,757	34.7	+9.9
	Liberal Democrats	Manda Rigby	4,461	8.3	+0.4
	Green	Sally Calverley	1,245	2.3	−3.2
	Independent	Shaun Hughes	588	1.1	New
Majority			10,235	18.9	−5.9
Turnout			54,043	75.7	+2.0
	Conservative hold		Swing	−3.0

General election 2015: North East Somerset ^{[19] [20]}

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Jacob Rees-Mogg	25,439	49.8	+8.5
	Labour	Todd Foreman	12,690	24.8	−6.9
	UKIP	Ernest Blaber	6,150	12.0	+8.6
	Liberal Democrats	Wera Hobhouse	4,029	7.9	−14.4
	Green	Katy Boyce [21]	2,802	5.5	+4.2
Majority			12,749	25.0	+15.4
Turnout			51,110	73.7	-2.3
	Conservative hold		Swing	+7.65

See also: Opinion polling in United Kingdom constituencies, 2010–15 § North East Somerset

General election 2010: North East Somerset ^{[22] [23] [24]}

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Jacob Rees-Mogg	21,130	41.3	+2.2
	Labour	Dan Norris*	16,216	31.7	−7.0
	Liberal Democrats	Gail Coleshill	11,433	22.3	+2.7
	UKIP	Peter Sandell	1,754	3.4	+1.2
	Green	Michael Jay	670	1.3	+1.3
Majority			4,914	9.6	+9.2
Turnout			51,203	76.0
	Conservative win (new seat)

*Served in the 2005–2010 Parliament as MP for Wansdyke

The changes in vote share are compared to a notional calculation of the 2005 result. Although the Wansdkye seat had been held by Labour for 13 years, this seat was already notionally a Conservative seat by a margin of 0.4%. This means that, if the seat in current boundaries had been contested in 2005, the Conservatives would have won by a few hundred votes.

See also

• List of parliamentary constituencies in Avon
• Wansdyke (abolished) – the predecessor constituency.

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.
3. Namely Bitton, Hanham, Longwell Green and Oldland Common

References

1. "England Parliamentary electorates 2010-2018". Boundary Commission for England. Retrieved 23 March 2019.
2. "The 2023 Review of Parliamentary Constituency Boundaries in England – Volume one: Report – South West | Boundary Commission for England". boundarycommissionforengland.independent.gov.uk. Retrieved 2 August 2023.
3. 2010 post-revision map non-metropolitan areas and unitary authorities of England Archived 3 October 2013 at the Wayback Machine Gov.UK
4. "2011 census interactive maps". Archived from the original on 29 January 2016.
5. Unemployment statistics by constituency The Guardian
6. Sillitoe, Neighbourhood Statistics - Neil (14 April 2008). "Detect browser settings".
7. "Saltford & Keynsham Area Information". Eveleighs. Retrieved 10 January 2018.
8. "Recreation at Haydon". Archived from the original on 8 July 2015. Retrieved 20 October 2022.
9. Boyd, Lorna (2013). Radstock and Midsomer Norton Through Time. Amberley. ISBN   9781445615271.
10. "Final estimates of the Leave vote share in the EU referendum". C. Hanretty (Google Docs). Retrieved 10 June 2017.
11. "How did different constituencies vote in the 2016 EU referendum?". Full Fact. Retrieved 3 September 2019.
12. Hanretty, Chris (25 April 2017). "Final estimates of the Leave vote, or "Areal interpolation and the UK's referendum on EU membership"". Medium. Retrieved 4 September 2019.
13. Godfrey, Will (14 November 2019). "Statement of Persons Nominated" (PDF). Bath and North East Somerset Council. Retrieved 14 November 2019.
14. "Somerset North East parliamentary constituency - Election 2019 - BBC News" – via www.bbc.co.uk.
15. "Statement of Persons Nominated" (PDF). Bath and North East Somerset Returning Officer. Retrieved 11 May 2017.
16. "Bath and NE Somerset Green Party - BaNES Greens: all female line up for election challenge". bath.greenparty.org.uk.
17. "Manda Rigby for North East Somerset".
18. "Somerset North East". BBC. Retrieved 9 June 2017.
19. "Election Data 2015". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 17 October 2015. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
20. "Somerset North East". BBC. Retrieved 8 May 2015.
21. "Katy Boyce". WhoCanIVoteFor?. Archived from the original on 21 March 2016. Retrieved 11 February 2015.
22. "Election Data 2010". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 26 July 2013. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
23. "BBC NEWS – Election 2010 – Somerset North East". BBC News.
24. "Somerset North East". Guardian. Retrieved 5 October 2012.

Sources

• UKPolling Report – Anthony Wells calculations of notional majorities.

51°20′N2°30′W / 51.333°N 2.500°W / 51.333; -2.500