North Devon (UK Parliament constituency)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

North Devon County constituency
North Devon shown within Devon, and Devon shown within England
Created:	1832, 1950
MP:	Nicholas Harvey
Party:	Liberal Democrat
Type:	House of Commons
County:	Devon
EP constituency:	South West England

North Devon (or sometimes Devon North) is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elects one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first past the post system of election.

Contents 1 Boundaries 2 History 3 Members of Parliament 3.1 1832-1885 3.2 1950-present 4 Election results 5 See also 6 References

[edit] Boundaries

This constituency covers the north of Devon in the South West region of England. Although it shares the name as the North Devon local government district, it covers a slightly larger area to the south, including parts of the Mid Devon district. The Liberal Democrats and their predecessors the Liberal Party have historically shown a strong performance in this seat, which was held for two decades by former Liberal leader Jeremy Thorpe. He lost it in the 1979 General Election after the intense controversy surrounding his relationship with homosexual Norman Scott, and alleged involvement in a plot to murder him, of which he was found not guilty the same year. After a 13-year hiatus, Liberal Democrat Nicholas Harvey regained the seat from the Conservatives in 1992 and still holds the seat today, having retained it comfortably in the 2005 General Election.

[edit] History

The North Devon constituency was first created in 1832, as a result of the Reform Acts. Before that, the area was part of the Devon constituency. Between 1832 and 1885 the constituency elected two MPs to parliament.

In 1885, the constituency was split up into various divisions, however in 1950, the North Devon constituency was recreated, covering a smaller area than before.

[edit] Members of Parliament

[edit] 1832-1885

Year	1st Member		1st Party	2nd Member		2nd Party
1832		Hugh Fortescue	Whig		Newton Fellowes
1837					Sir Thomas Dyke Acland	Conservative
1839		Lewis William Buck
1857		James Wentworth Buller			Charles Hepburn-Stuart-Forbes-Trefusis	Conservative
1865		Sir Thomas Dyke Acland	Liberal
1866					Sir Stafford Northcote	Conservative
1885					John Curzon Moore-Stevens

[edit] 1950-present

The current Member of Parliament, since 1992, is Nicholas Harvey of the Liberal Democrats.

Year		Member	Party
1950		constituency recreated
	1950	Christopher Peto	Conservative
	1955	James Louis Lindsay	Conservative
	1959	Jeremy Thorpe	Liberal
	1979	Antony Speller	Conservative
	1992	Nicholas Harvey	Liberal Democrat

[edit] Election results

General Election 2005: Devon North
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Democrat	Nicholas Harvey	23,840	45.9	+1.7
	Conservative	Orlando Fraser	18,868	36.3	-1.9
	Labour	Mark Cann	4,656	9.0	-1.1
	UK Independence	John Browne	2,740	5.3	+0.3
	Green	Ricky Knight	1,826	3.5	+1.1
Majority			4,972	9.6
Turnout			51,930	68.1	-0.2
	Liberal Democrat hold		Swing	-1.8

General Election 2001: North Devon
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Democrat	Nicholas Harvey	21,784	44.2	-6.6
	Conservative	Clive Allen	18,800	38.2	-1.3
	Labour	Vivian Gale	4,995	10.1	+0.3
	UK Independence	Roger Knapman	2,484	5.0	+5.0
	Green	Anthony Bown	1,191	2.4	+2.4
Majority			2,984	6.1	-5.2
Turnout			49,254	68.3	-9.4
	Liberal Democrat hold		Swing

General Election 1997: North Devon
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Democrat	Nicholas Harvey	27,824	50.8
	Conservative	Richard Ashworth	21,643	39.5
	Labour	Annie Brenton	5,347	9.8
Majority			6,181	11.3
Turnout			54,814	77.7
	Liberal Democrat hold		Swing

[edit] See also

• List of Parliamentary constituencies in Devon

[edit] References

• (1945) The Times House of Commons 1945. 
• (1950) The Times House of Commons 1950. 
• (1955) The Times House of Commons 1955. 

v • d • e Constituencies in South West England Conservative Bournemouth East • Bournemouth West • Bridgwater • Christchurch • Cotswold • Devizes • East Devon • Forest of Dean • North Dorset • North Wiltshire • Poole • Salisbury • South West Devon • Tewkesbury • Tiverton and Honiton • Torridge and West Devon • Totnes • Wells • West Dorset • Westbury • Weston-super-Mare • Woodspring Liberal Democrat Bath • Bristol West • Cheltenham • Falmouth and Camborne • Mid Dorset and North Poole • North Cornwall • North Devon • Northavon • Somerton and Frome • South East Cornwall • St Ives • Taunton • Teignbridge • Torbay • Truro and St Austell • Yeovil Labour Bristol East • Bristol North West • Bristol South • Exeter • Gloucester • Kingswood • North Swindon • Plymouth Devonport • Plymouth Sutton • South Dorset • South Swindon • Stroud • Wansdyke South West England European constituency Conservative (3) • UKIP (2) • Liberal Democrats (1) • Labour (1)