Plymouth Sutton (UK Parliament constituency)

Plymouth, Sutton
Former Borough constituency for the House of Commons
Boundary of Plymouth, Sutton in Devonfor the 2005 general election
Location of Devon within England
County	Devon
1918–2010
Seats	One
Created from	Plymouth
Replaced by	Plymouth Moor View, Plymouth Sutton and Devonport

Plymouth, Sutton was, from 1918 until 2010, a borough constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elected one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first past the post system of election.

History

Plymouth Sutton covered parts of the city of Plymouth, in South West England, and was first contested at the 1918 general election. In a by-election in 1919, it became the second constituency in the UK (and the first in Great Britain) to elect a female MP: Nancy Astor became the first woman to take a seat in the House of Commons (the first female MP was the Sinn Féin member Constance Markievicz, who did not take her seat). Three of its MPs have been members of the Astor family. A more recent prominent MP was the flamboyant Conservative Alan Clark, who represented Plymouth Sutton from 1974 until 1992.

Abolition

Following the Fifth Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies by the Boundary Commission for England, constituencies in Plymouth were reorganised, with both Plymouth Sutton and Plymouth Devonport being replaced by new constituencies of Plymouth Sutton and Devonport and Plymouth Moor View from 2010. ^[1] The vast majority of the Plymouth Sutton constituency became part of the new Plymouth Sutton and Devonport constituency. ^[2]

Boundaries

1918–1950: The County Borough of Plymouth wards of Charles, Compton, Friary, Laira, St Andrew, Sutton, and Vintry.

1950–1951: The County Borough of Plymouth wards of Charles, Compton, Crownhill, Drake, Friary, Laira, Mutley, St Andrew, Sutton, Valletort, and Vintry, and the parish of Bickleigh in the Rural District of Plympton St Mary.

1951–1955: The County Borough of Plymouth wards of Charles, Compton, Crownhill, Drake, Efford, Friary, Mount Gold, St Andrew and Sutton. ^[3]

1955–1974: The County Borough of Plymouth wards of Charles, Compton, Crownhill, Efford, Friary, Mount Gould, Peverell, Sutton, Tamerton, and Trelawney.

1974–1983: The County Borough of Plymouth wards of Crownhill, Efford, Mount Gould, Plympton Erle, Plympton St Mary, Plymstock Dunstone, Plymstock Radford, and Sutton.

1983–1997: The City of Plymouth wards of Efford, Eggbuckland, Mount Gould, Plympton Erle, Plympton St Mary, Plymstock Dunstone, and Plymstock Radford.

1997–2010: The City of Plymouth wards of Compton, Drake, Efford, Mount Gould, St Peter, Stoke, Sutton, and Trelawny.

The 1997 boundary changes were highly favourable to Labour in this constituency: what had been a safe Conservative seat became a marginal seat. As such the seat from 1997 until 2010 was closer in its wards to the defunct marginal seat of Plymouth Drake. ^[4]

Members of Parliament

Election		Member [5]	Party
	1918	Waldorf Astor	Conservative
	1919 by-election	Nancy Astor	Conservative
	1945	Lucy Middleton	Labour
	1951	Jakie Astor	Conservative
	1959	Ian Fraser	Conservative
	1966	David Owen	Labour
	Feb 1974	Alan Clark	Conservative
	1992	Gary Streeter	Conservative
	1997	Linda Gilroy	Labour
	2010	constituency abolished: see Plymouth Moor View & Plymouth Sutton and Devonport

Elections

Elections in the 1910s

Waldorf Astor

General election 1918: Plymouth Sutton ^[6] Electorate 43,444

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
C	Unionist	Waldorf Astor	17,091	65.9
	Labour	William Thomas Gay	5,334	20.6
	Liberal	Sidney Ransom	3,488	13.5
Majority			11,757	45.3
Turnout			25,913	59.6
	Unionist win (new seat)
Cindicates candidate endorsed by the coalition government.

1919 Plymouth Sutton by-election

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
C	Unionist	Nancy Astor	14,495	51.9	-14.0
	Labour	William Thomas Gay	9,292	33.3	+12.7
	Liberal	Isaac Foot	4,139	14.8	+1.3
Majority			5,203	18.6	-26.7
Turnout			27,926
	Unionist hold		Swing
Cindicates candidate endorsed by the coalition government.

Elections in the 1920s

Nancy Astor

General election 1922: Plymouth Sutton ^[6]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist	Nancy Astor	13,924	47.4	-18.5
	Labour	Frederick George Woulfe-Brenan	10,831	36.8	+16.2
	Ind. Unionist	Hugh Wansey Bayly	4,643	15.8	New
Majority			3,093	10.6	-34.7
Turnout			29,398	78.0	+18.4
	Unionist hold		Swing

General election 1923: Plymouth Sutton ^[6]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist	Nancy Astor	16,114	54.5	+7.1
	Labour	Frederick George Woulfe-Brenan	13,438	45.5	+8.7
Majority			2,676	9.0	-1.6
Turnout			29,552	77.9	-0.1
	Unionist hold		Swing	-0.8

General election 1924: Plymouth Sutton ^[6]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist	Nancy Astor	18,174	58.1	+3.6
	Labour	Frederick George Woulfe-Brenan	13,095	41.9	-3.6
Majority			5,079	16.2	+7.2
Turnout			31,269	81.6	+3.7
	Unionist hold		Swing

General election 1929: Plymouth Sutton ^[6]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist	Nancy Astor	16,625	43.2	-15.9
	Labour	William Westwood	16,414	42.7	+0.8
	Liberal	Thomas Henry Aggett	5,430	14.1	New
Majority			211	0.5	-15.7
Turnout			38,469	81.1	-0.5
	Unionist hold		Swing	-7.8

Elections in the 1930s

General election 1931: Plymouth Sutton ^[6] Electorate 47,862

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Nancy Astor	24,277	63.3	+20.1
	Labour	George Ward	14,073	36.7	-6.0
Majority			10,204	26.6	+26.1
Turnout			38,350	80.1	-1.0
	Conservative hold		Swing

General election 1935: Plymouth Sutton ^[6] Electorate 47,540

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Nancy Astor	21,491	58.3	-5.0
	Labour	George Ward	15,394	41.7	+5.0
Majority			6,097	16.6	-10.0
Turnout			37,425	77.6	-3.5
	Conservative hold		Swing

General Election 1939–40: Another General Election was required to take place before the end of 1940. The political parties had been making preparations for an election to take place and by the Autumn of 1939, the following candidates had been selected;

• Conservative: Nancy Astor
• Labour: Lucy Middleton ^[7]

Elections in the 1940s

General election 1945: Plymouth Sutton ^[6] Electorate 41,493

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Lucy Middleton	15,417	51.6	+9.9
	Conservative	Laurence Douglas Grand	10,738	36.0	-22.3
	Liberal	Joan Arundell Gaved	3,695	12.4	New
Majority			4,679	15.6	N/A
Turnout			29,850	71.9	-5.7
	Labour gain from Conservative		Swing

Elections in the 1950s

General election 1950: Plymouth Sutton

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Lucy Middleton	27,512	47.73
	Conservative	Jakie Astor	26,588	46.13
	Liberal	Kenneth Henry B Major	3,541	6.14
Majority			924	1.60
Turnout			57,641	86.40
	Labour hold		Swing

General election 1951: Plymouth Sutton

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Jakie Astor	28,908	50.62
	Labour	Lucy Middleton	28,198	49.38
Majority			710	1.24	N/A
Turnout			57,106	85.37
	Conservative gain from Labour		Swing

General election 1955: Plymouth Sutton

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Jakie Astor	30,051	53.38
	Labour	Lucy Middleton	26,241	46.62
Majority			3,810	6.76
Turnout			56,292	78.88
	Conservative hold		Swing

General election 1959: Plymouth Sutton

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Ian Fraser	32,752	55.75
	Labour	Julian D. Richards	25,991	44.52
Majority			6,761	11.23
Turnout			58,743	79.30
	Conservative hold		Swing

Elections in the 1960s

General election 1964: Plymouth Sutton

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Ian Fraser	24,722	43.82
	Labour	John Dunwoody	24,312	43.09
	Liberal	Graham Cocks	7,383	13.09	New
Majority			410	0.73
Turnout			56,417	76.66
	Conservative hold		Swing

General election 1966: Plymouth Sutton

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	David Owen	31,567	54.51
	Conservative	Ian Fraser	26,345	45.49
Majority			5,222	9.02	N/A
Turnout			57,912	78.90
	Labour gain from Conservative		Swing

Elections in the 1970s

General election 1970: Plymouth Sutton

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	David Owen	29,383	50.64
	Conservative	John M. Goss	28,636	49.36
Majority			747	1.28
Turnout			58,019	72.27
	Labour hold		Swing

New constituency boundaries came into effect in time for the following election in February 1974.

General election February 1974: Plymouth Sutton

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Alan Clark	21,649	45.22
	Labour	BW Fletcher	13,545	28.29
	Liberal	Simon Godfrey Banks	12,683	26.49	New
Majority			8,104	16.93	N/A
Turnout			47,876	79.07
	Conservative gain from Labour		Swing

General election October 1974: Plymouth Sutton

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Alan Clark	20,457	44.61
	Labour	Julian Priestley	15,269	33.30
	Liberal	Simon Godfrey Banks	10,131	22.09
Majority			5,188	11.31
Turnout			45,858	75.17
	Conservative hold		Swing	-2.8

General election 1979: Plymouth Sutton ^[8]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Alan Clark	28,892	54.80
	Labour	Julian Priestley	17,605	33.39
	Liberal	J Scannell	6,226	11.81
Majority			11,287	21.41
Turnout			52,723	76.95
	Conservative hold		Swing

Elections in the 1980s

General election 1983: Plymouth Sutton ^{[9] [10]}

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Alan Clark	25,203	55.12
	Liberal	Anthony Puttick	13,516	29.56
	Labour	Frances Holland	6,358	14.3
	Ecology	Stephen Shaw	470	1.03	New
Majority			11,687	25.56
Turnout			45,726	76.35
	Conservative hold		Swing

General election 1987: Plymouth Sutton ^[11]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Alan Clark	23,187	45.76
	Liberal	Bruce Tidy	19,174	37.84
	Labour	Ralph Maddern	8,310	16.4
Majority			4,013	7.92
Turnout			50,674	79.03
	Conservative hold		Swing	−3.8

Elections in the 1990s

General election 1992: Plymouth Sutton ^{[12] [13]}

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Gary Streeter	27,070	49.5	+3.7
	Labour	Andrew Pawley	15,120	27.6	+11.2
	Liberal Democrats	Julian P. Brett-Freeman	12,291	22.5	−15.3
	Natural Law	Jeremy J. Bowler	256	0.5	New
Majority			11,950	21.9	+14.0
Turnout			54,737	81.2	+2.2
	Conservative hold		Swing	−3.8

General election 1997: Plymouth Sutton ^{[14] [15] [16] [17] [18]}

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour Co-op	Linda Gilroy	23,881	50.1	+11.3
	Conservative	Andrew Crisp	14,441	30.3	−11.5
	Liberal Democrats	Steve Melia	6,613	13.9	+0.7
	Referendum	Tim Hanbury	1,654	3.5	New
	UKIP	Roger Bullock	499	1.1	New
	Plymouth First Group	Kevin Kelway	396	0.8	New
	Natural Law	Frank Lyons	168	0.4	−0.1
Majority			9,440	19.8	N/A
Turnout			47,650	67.4	-13.8
	Labour gain from Conservative		Swing	+11.4

Elections in the 2000s

General election 2001: Plymouth, Sutton ^[19]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour Co-op	Linda Gilroy	19,827	50.7	+0.6
	Conservative	Oliver Colvile [20]	12,310	31.5	+1.2
	Liberal Democrats	Alan Connett	5,605	14.3	+0.6
	UKIP	Alan Whitton	970	2.5	+1.4
	Socialist Labour	Henry Leary	361	0.9	New
Majority			7,517	19.2	−0.6
Turnout			39,073	57.1	−10.3
	Labour Co-op hold		Swing	−0.3

General election 2005: Plymouth, Sutton ^[21]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour Co-op	Linda Gilroy	15,497	40.6	−10.1
	Conservative	Oliver Colvile [20]	11,388	29.8	−1.7
	Liberal Democrats	Karen Gillard	8,685	22.7	+8.4
	UKIP	Robert Cumming	2,392	6.3	+3.8
	Socialist Labour	Rob Hawkins	230	0.6	−0.3
Majority			4,109	10.8	−8.4
Turnout			38,192	56.8	−0.3
	Labour Co-op hold		Swing	−4.2

See also

• List of parliamentary constituencies in Devon

Notes and references

1. "Final recommendations for Parliamentary constituencies in the counties of Devon, Plymouth and Torbay". Boundary Commission for England. 24 November 2004. Archived from the original on 2 November 2009. Retrieved 25 April 2010.
2. Waller, Robert; Criddle, Byron (2007). The Almanac of British Politics (8th ed.). UK: Routledge. p. 752. ISBN   978-0-415-37823-9.
3. "The House of Commons (Redistribution of Seats) (No. 10) Order 1951. SI 1951/432". Statutory Instruments 1951. Vol. II. London: Her Majesty's Stationery Office. 1952. pp. 431–434.
4. C. Rallings & M. Thrasher, The Media Guide to the New Parliamentary Constituencies, pp.133, 244 (Plymouth: LGC Elections Centre, 1995).
5. Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "P" (part 2)
6. British Parliamentary Election Results 1918-1949, FWS Craig
7. Report of the Annual Conference of the Labour Party, 1939
8. "UK General Election results: May 1979". Politicsresources.net. 28 May 1979. Archived from the original on 14 October 2013. Retrieved 23 July 2016.
9. "Election Data 1983". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
10. "UK General Election results: June 1983". Politicsresources.net. 9 June 1983. Archived from the original on 30 June 2009. Retrieved 23 July 2016.
11. "Election Data 1987". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
12. "Election Data 1992". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
13. "Politics Resources". Election 1992. Politics Resources. 9 April 1992. Archived from the original on 24 July 2011. Retrieved 6 December 2010.
14. "Election Data 1997". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
15. "Politics Resources". Election 1997. Politics Resources. 1 May 1997. Retrieved 7 January 2011.
16. C. Rallings & M. Thrasher, The Media Guide to the New Parliamentary Constituencies, p.133 (Plymouth: LGC Elections Centre, 1995)
17. The 1997 election result has swings relative to the notional, not the actual, 1992 result.
18. "Plymouth Sutton". ElectionWeb Project. Cognitive Computing Limited. Archived from the original on 2 June 2016. Retrieved 19 May 2016.
19. "Election Data 2001". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
20. Oliver Colvile Archived 20 May 2010 at the Wayback Machine , Official PPC Website
21. "Election Data 2005". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.

Sources

• Craig, F. W. S. (1983) [1969]. British parliamentary election results 1918–1949 (3rd ed.). Chichester: Parliamentary Research Services. ISBN   0-900178-06-X.

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