| Westminster North | |
| Parliament: | uk |
| Map1: | WestminsterNorth2007 |
| Map Entity: | Greater London |
| Map Size: | 200px |
| Year: | 2010 |
| Abolished: | 2024 |
| Type: | Borough |
| Previous: | Regent's Park & Kensington North Cities of London & Westminster (one ward and parts of two others) |
| Year2: | 1983 |
| Abolished2: | 1997 |
| Next2: | Regent's Park & Kensington North Cities of London & Westminster |
| Electorate: | 65,936 (December 2010)[1] |
| Region: | England |
| European: | London |
| Elects Howmany: | One |
| Elects Howmany2: | One |
| Towns: | Maida Vale St John's Wood Queen's Park Bayswater |
Westminster North was a constituency in Greater London represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament. It existed for the periods 1983–1997 and 2010–2024.
Further to the completion of the 2023 Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies, the seat was abolished, with the majority being included in the new constituency of Queen's Park and Maida Vale. The Abbey Road and Regent's Park wards were transferred to Cities of London and Westminster, and the Bayswater and Lancaster Gate wards to Kensington and Bayswater.[2]
Comprising the northwestern part of the City of Westminster, the constituency contained some affluent residential areas that have historically voted Conservative in large numbers, such as Bayswater and the area on the western and northwestern sides of Regent's Park.
Lord's Cricket Ground and the Abbey Road Studios are in the seat, as are the Queen's Park, Church Street, Westbourne Park, and Harrow Road areas, further from central London. However, the seat has mostly been represented at local level by Conservative councillors, via the wards of Little Venice, Regent's Park, Abbey Road and Lancaster Gate, while Maida Vale and Bayswater have had split representation.
Reflective of the transport links to the selective professional industries of the City of London and long-standing desirable housing in this area, workless claimants who were registered jobseekers were in November 2012 lower than the national average of 3.8%, at 2.9% of the population, based on a statistical compilation by The Guardian.[3]
The seat was created under the Third Periodic Review of constituencies in 1983, which followed the first Boundary Commission Review in 1945, which in turn directly followed the Representation of the People Act 1918 review. It was based largely on Paddington but also took in the abolished St Marylebone constituency.
The 1997 boundary changes expanded the constituency to the west, taking in Labour-voting areas of north Kensington and tilting the seat towards Labour. Wheeler decided that he did not wish to contest such unfavourable territory and sought selection elsewhere. However he was unsuccessful in finding a new safe seat and thus retired at the 1997 general election.
The City of Westminster wards of: Bayswater; Church Street; Hamilton Terrace; Harrow Road; Lancaster Gate; Little Venice; Lords; Maida Vale; Queen's Park; Regent's Park; and Westbourne.
The electoral wards of: Abbey Road; Bayswater; Church Street; Harrow Road; Lancaster Gate; Little Venice; Maida Vale; Queen's Park; Regent's Park; and Westbourne in the City of Westminster.[6]
Parliament accepted the Boundary Commission's Fifth Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies which called for the recreation of this constituency for the 2010 general election. This was achieved from parts of two seats: the eastern three quarters of Regent's Park and Kensington North and northern parts of Cities of London and Westminster:
Population expansion across the former main seat was a factor, including Maida Vale, West Kilburn and to a lesser degree in St John's Wood, which were retained, as well as in Notting Hill and North Kensington, which were therefore removed.[7]
| Election | Member | Party | Notes | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1983 | John Wheeler | Conservative | Knighted in 1993 | ||
| constituency abolished in 1997 | |||||
| 2010 | Karen Buck | Labour | Member for main predecessor seat (1997–2010) | ||