Swindon North (UK Parliament constituency)

Swindon North
County constituency for the House of Commons
Boundary of Swindon North in South West England
County	Wiltshire
Electorate	72,163 (2023) [1]
Major settlements	Swindon (part), Highworth
Current constituency
Created	1997
Member of Parliament	Will Stone (Labour Party)
Seats	One
Created from	Swindon

Swindon North is a constituency ^{[n 1]} represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2024 by Will Stone, a Labour politician. ^{[n 2]}

Further to the completion of the 2023 Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies, the seat was formally renamed from North Swindon to Swindon North, and first contested at the 2024 general election. ^[2]

History

North Swindon was created in 1997 and has been a bellwether since then. However, during the 2010s, the Conservatives won the constituency by much higher numbers than their national popular vote margin.

Boundaries

Map of boundaries 2010-2024

Map of boundaries from 2024

1997–2010: The Borough of Thamesdown wards of Blunsdon, Covingham, Gorse Hill, Haydon Wick, Highworth, Moredon, St Margaret, St Philip, Western, and Whitworth, and the District of North Wiltshire ward of Cricklade.

The seat's boundaries encompassed an area that before its creation made up parts of the former Swindon constituency and pre-1997 versions of North Wiltshire and Devizes.

2010–2024: The Borough of Swindon wards of Abbey Meads, Blunsdon and Highworth, Covingham and Nythe, Gorse Hill and Pinehurst, Haydon Wick, Moredon, Penhill, St Margaret, St Philip, and Western.

In the 2010 boundary changes, the town of Cricklade became part of the North Wiltshire constituency while this seat acquired parts of the South Swindon constituency.

2024–present: Further to the 2023 Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies which came into effect for the 2024 general election, the constituency is composed of the following (as they existed on 1 December 2020):

• The Borough of Swindon wards of: Blunsdon and Highworth; Gorse Hill and Pinehurst; Haydon Wick; Penhill and Upper Stratton; Priory Vale; Rodbourne Cheney; St. Andrews; St. Margaret and South Marston. ^[3]

In order to bring the electorate within the permitted range and align with revised ward boundaries, the districts of Covingham and Nythe were transferred to Swindon South.

Constituency profile

The constituency covers a northern part of central Swindon and its northern suburbs (the civil parish of Central Swindon North), and extends northward to take in Blunsdon, the market town of Highworth and the rural parishes surrounding that town.

North Swindon has an electorate of 79,488 (as of 2010 ^[update] ), the majority of whom live in the suburbs or close to Swindon's town centre. In 2001, 52.9% of homes were into the categories of semi-detached or detached in the Swindon Local Authority area; after a 5.0% increase in flats/apartments in 2011, this figure had fallen slightly to 50.3%. In the same period, those registered unemployed rose from 2.5% to 4.2% and those self-employed rose from 6.2% to 7.8%. ^[4] In 2010, the unemployment rate for Swindon South was 2.6%, compared to 3.5% in Swindon North. This is one indicator of social deprivation and compares to a rate of 11.0% in 2010 in Birmingham Ladywood, the constituency with the highest rate nationally. ^[5]

Members of Parliament

Election		Member [6]	Party
	1997	Michael Wills	Labour
	2010	Justin Tomlinson	Conservative
	2024	Will Stone	Labour Party

Elections

Elections in the 2020s

General election 2024: Swindon North ^[7]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Will Stone [8]	17,930	40.6	+10.1
	Conservative	Justin Tomlinson	13,827	31.3	–27.2
	Reform UK	Les Willis [9]	7,557	17.1	N/A
	Green	Andy Bentley [10]	2,366	5.4	+2.3
	Liberal Democrats	Flo Clucas	2,086	4.7	–3.2
	Independent	Debbie Hicks [11]	260	0.6	N/A
	TUSC	Scott Hunter	139	0.3	N/A
Majority			4,103	9.3	N/A
Turnout			44,165	60.3	–5.4
Registered electors			73,238
	Labour gain from Conservative		Swing	19.3

Elections in the 2010s

2019 notional result [12]
Party		Vote	%
	Conservative	27,719	58.5
	Labour	14,469	30.5
	Liberal Democrats	3,744	7.9
	Green	1,449	3.1
Turnout		47,381	65.7
Electorate		72,163

General election 2019: North Swindon ^[13]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Justin Tomlinson	32,584	59.1	+5.5
	Labour	Kate Linnegar	16,413	29.8	–8.6
	Liberal Democrats	Katie Critchlow	4,408	8.0	+4.4
	Green	Andy Bentley	1,710	3.1	+1.5
Majority			16,171	29.3	+14.1
Turnout			55,115	66.9	–1.6
	Conservative hold		Swing	+7.1

General election 2017: North Swindon ^[14]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Justin Tomlinson	29,431	53.6	+3.3
	Labour	Mark Dempsey	21,096	38.4	+10.6
	Liberal Democrats	Liz Webster	1,962	3.6	+0.3
	UKIP	Steve Halden	1,564	2.8	–12.5
	Green	Andy Bentley	858	1.6	–1.7
Majority			8,335	15.2	–7.3
Turnout			54,911	68.5	+4.0
	Conservative hold		Swing	–3.65

General election 2015: North Swindon ^{[15] [16]}

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Justin Tomlinson	26,295	50.3	+5.7
	Labour	Mark Dempsey [17]	14,509	27.8	–2.7
	UKIP	James Faulkner [18]	8,011	15.3	+11.6
	Green	Poppy Hebden-Leeder	1,723	3.3	+2.3
	Liberal Democrats	Janet Ellard [19]	1,704	3.3	–13.9
Majority			11,786	22.5	+8.4
Turnout			52,242	64.5	+0.3
	Conservative hold		Swing	+4.3

General election 2010: North Swindon ^{[20] [21]}

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Justin Tomlinson	22,408	44.6	+5.7
	Labour	Victor Agarwal	15,348	30.5	–14.6
	Liberal Democrats	Jane Lock	8,668	17.2	+4.4
	UKIP	Stephen Halden	1,842	3.7	+1.4
	BNP	Reg Bates	1,542	3.1	N/A
	Green	Bill Hughes	487	1.0	N/A
Majority			7,060	14.1	N/A
Turnout			50,295	64.2	+3.4
	Conservative gain from Labour		Swing	+10.1

Elections in the 2000s

General election 2005: North Swindon

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Michael Wills	19,612	43.7	–9.2
	Conservative	Justin Tomlinson	17,041	38.0	+4.3
	Liberal Democrats	Mike Evemy	6,831	15.2	+3.6
	UKIP	Robert Tingey	998	2.2	+0.3
	Socialist Unity	Andy Newman	208	0.5	N/A
	Independent	Ernest Reynolds	195	0.4	N/A
Majority			2,571	5.7	–13.5
Turnout			44,885	61.0	0.0
	Labour hold		Swing	–6.7

General election 2001: North Swindon

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Michael Wills	22,371	52.9	+3.1
	Conservative	Nick Martin	14,266	33.7	–0.1
	Liberal Democrats	David Nation	4,891	11.6	–1.3
	UKIP	Brian Lloyd	800	1.9	N/A
Majority			8,105	19.2	+3.2
Turnout			42,328	61.0	–12.7
	Labour hold		Swing

Elections in the 1990s

General election 1997: North Swindon

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Michael Wills	24,029	49.8
	Conservative	Guy Opperman	16,341	33.8
	Liberal Democrats	Mike Evemy	6,237	12.9
	Referendum	Gillian Goldsmith	1,533	3.2
	Natural Law	Alexander Fisken	130	0.3
Majority			7,688	16.0
Turnout			48,270	73.66
	Labour win (new seat)

See also

• List of parliamentary constituencies in Wiltshire

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.

References

1. "The 2023 Review of Parliamentary Constituency Boundaries in England – Volume two: Constituency names, designations and composition – South West". Boundary Commission for England. Retrieved 29 June 2024.
2. "The 2023 Review of Parliamentary Constituency Boundaries in England – Volume one: Report – South West". Boundary Commission for England. Retrieved 2 August 2023.
3. "The Parliamentary Constituencies Order 2023". Schedule 1 Part 7 South West region.
4. "2011 census interactive maps". Archived from the original on 29 January 2016.
5. "Unemployment claimants by constituency", The Guardian , 17 November 2010
6. Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "S" (part 6)
7. Swindon North
8. "Labour selections: parliamentary candidates selected so far for the general election". LabourList . Retrieved 5 March 2024.
9. . Reform UK Swindon North. 25 May 2023 https://www.facebook.com/groups/reformuk.swindonnorth/permalink/433934202686952/ . Retrieved 29 May 2024.{{cite web}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
10. "Stand at the next general election". South West Green Party. 17 September 2023. Retrieved 5 March 2024.
11. "Lockdown protester who filmed inside hospital to stand for election in Swindon". Swindon Advertiser. 10 April 2024. Retrieved 27 May 2024.
12. "Notional results for a UK general election on 12 December 2019". Rallings & Thrasher, Professor David Denver (Scotland), Nicholas Whyte (NI) for Sky News, PA, BBC News and ITV News. UK Parliament . Retrieved 11 July 2024.
13. Council, Swindon Borough. "Statement of Persons Nominated, Notice of Poll and Situation of Polling Stations North Swindon | Swindon Borough Council". www.swindon.gov.uk. Retrieved 16 November 2019.
14. "ELECTION 2017: Labour choose North Swindon candidate". Swindon Advertiser.
15. "Election Data 2015". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 17 October 2015. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
16. "Swindon North parliamentary constituency - Election 2017". BBC News.
17. "CLLR Mark Dempsey – PPC for North Swindon | North Swindon Labour". Archived from the original on 4 October 2013. Retrieved 1 October 2013.
18. "Swindon UKIP Branch".
19. "General Election 2015 Candidates - Liberal Democrats". Archived from the original on 13 April 2014.
20. "Election Data 2010". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 26 July 2013. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
21. "Election 2010 - Constituency - Swindon North". BBC News.

External links

• North Swindon UK Parliament constituency (boundaries April 1997 – April 2010) at MapIt UK
• North Swindon UK Parliament constituency (boundaries April 2010 – May 2024) at MapIt UK
• Swindon North UK Parliament constituency (boundaries from June 2024) at MapIt UK