Weston-super-Mare (UK Parliament constituency) explained

Weston-super-Mare
Parliament:	uk
Map1:	WestonSuperMare2007
Map2:	Somerset UK locator map 2010
Map Entity:	Somerset
Year:	1918
Type:	County
Electorate:	70,722 (2023)^[1]
Party:	Labour Party (UK)
Region:	England
European:	South West England
Elects Howmany:	One

Weston-super-Mare is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament by Dan Aldridge from the Labour Party since 2024. Before then it was held since 2005 by John Penrose, a Conservative.

Further to the completion of the 2023 Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies, the seat will be subject to moderate boundary changes which will involve the loss of rural areas in the east which will move into the new constituency of Wells and Mendip Hills to be first contested at the 2024 general election.^[2]

History

The seat was created under the Representation of the People Act 1918. Its forerunner was the North Somerset division created in 1885.

The by-election of 1934 was triggered by the acceptance of the appointment of Lord Erskine to the position of Governor of Madras Presidency, that of 1958 by the death of Ian Orr-Ewing and that of 1969 by the death of David Webster.

Political historyThe seat has alternated in representation between 1992 and 2005: in the election of 1997 the fresh Conservative candidate, Margaret Daly failed to hold the seat which led to Weston Super Mare's first marginal majority since 1923, obtained by Brian Cotter, a Liberal Democrat. Between 1997 and 2010, all the majorities in the constituency were lower than 3,000 votes, remaining strongly marginal and seeing in 2005 Cotter lose the seat to John Penrose. Following the 2015 election however, the seat moved strongly towards the Conservatives, who increased their share of the vote in every subsequent election until 2019 election, when Penrose gained a majority of 17,121 over the second place Labour candidate. Penrose subsequently lost the seat to Labour's Dan Aldridge in 2024.

Frontbenchers

• Jerry Wiggin was Minister for the Armed Services from 1981 to 1983.
• Brian Cotter was the Liberal Democrat Small Business Spokesman (1997–2005),
• John Penrose was appointed the Minister for Tourism and Heritage (2010–2012).

Boundaries

1918–1950: The Urban Districts of Clevedon, Portishead, and Weston-super-Mare, and the Rural Districts of Axbridge and Long Ashton.

1950–1983: The Borough of Weston-super-Mare, the Urban District of Clevedon, the Rural District of Axbridge, and in the Rural District of Long Ashton the parishes of Kenn, Kingston Seymour, and Yatton.

1983–1997: The District of Woodspring wards of Banwell, Blagdon, Churchill, Congresbury, Hutton, Locking, Weston-super-Mare Ashcombe, Weston-super-Mare East, Weston-super-Mare Ellenborough, Weston-super-Mare North, Weston-super-Mare South, Weston-super-Mare Uphill, Weston-super-Mare West, Winscombe, Wrington, and Yatton.

1997–2010: The District of North Somerset wards of Banwell, Blagdon, Churchill, Congresbury, Hutton, Locking, Weston-super-Mare Ashcombe, Weston-super-Mare East, Weston-super-Mare Ellenborough, Weston-super-Mare North, Weston-super-Mare South, Weston-super-Mare Uphill, Weston-super-Mare West, and Winscombe.

2010–2024: The District of North Somerset wards of Banwell and Winscombe, Blagdon and Churchill, Congresbury, Hutton and Locking, Kewstoke, Weston-super-Mare Central, Weston-super-Mare Clarence and Uphill, Weston-super-Mare East, Weston-super-Mare Milton and Old Worle, Weston-super-Mare North Worle, Weston-super-Mare South, Weston-super-Mare South Worle, and Weston-super-Mare West.

The constituency covers the southern half of North Somerset Unitary Authority, including its only town, Weston-super-Mare on the Bristol Channel.

2024–present: The composition of the constituency from the 2024 United Kingdom general election will be reduced in order to bring the electorate within the permitted range by transferring the Banwell & Winscombe, Blagdon & Churchill, and Congresbury & Puxton wards to the new constituency of Wells and Mendip Hills.^[3]

History of boundaries

Changes for 1950Under the first periodic review the Weston constituency lost the Urban District of Portishead, and most of the Rural District of Long Ashton (excepting the parishes of Kenn, Kingston Seymour, and Yatton) to North Somerset constituency.

Changes for 1983Under the third periodic review the Weston constituency lost Clevedon to Woodspring constituency, and the parishes now within the Sedgemoor district (under the Local Government Act 1972) to Wells constituency.

Changes for 1997Under the fourth periodic review the Weston constituency lost Yatton and Wrington to Woodspring constituency.

Changes for 2010Parliament accepted the Boundary Commission's Fifth Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies by making slight changes to this constituency for the 2010 general election, namely the loss of only 181 electors in Butcombe (in the ward of Wrington, no longer in the seat at all) to North Somerset.

Constituency profile

The town grew as a relatively late-Victorian affluent resort with many green spaces and gardens south of the headland, Sand Point which denotes the sandier beach of the town and of Burnham on Sea relative to northerly shores such as at Clevedon.

Work in tourism and visitor attractions is seasonal but other areas of the economy locally, such as customer services operations, freight, haulage and distribution, social, care, elderly and health services as well as retail, manufacturing and materials/foods processing provide employment. Workless claimants who were registered jobseekers were in November 2012 lower than the national average of 3.8%, at 3.5% of the population based on a statistical compilation by The Guardian.^[4]

Members of Parliament

Election		Member^[5]	Party
	1918	Sir Gilbert Wills	Conservative
	1922	Lord Erskine	Conservative
	1923	Frank Murrell	Liberal
	1924	Lord Erskine	Conservative
	1934 by-election	Ian Orr-Ewing	Conservative
	1958 by-election	David Webster	Conservative
	1969 by-election	Jerry Wiggin	Conservative
	1997	Brian Cotter	Liberal Democrat
	2005	John Penrose	Conservative
	2024	Dan Aldridge	Labour

Elections

Elections in the 2010s

2019 notional result^[6]
Party		Vote	%
		26,210	57.1
		12,900	28.1
		5,382	11.7
		1,380	3.0
Turnout		45,872	64.9
Electorate		70,722

Elections in the 1910s

See also

• List of parliamentary constituencies in Avon

Sources

• The Constitutional Year Book for 1913 (London: National Union of Conservative and Unionist Associations, 1913)
• F W S Craig, British Parliamentary Election Results 1832–1885 (2nd edition, Aldershot: Parliamentary Research Services, 1989)
• Michael Kinnear, The British Voter (London: BH Batsford, Ltd, 1968)
• Henry Pelling, Social Geography of British Elections 1885–1910 (London: Macmillan, 1967)
• Frederic A Youngs, jr, Guide to the Local Administrative Units of England, Vol I (London: Royal Historical Society, 1979)

External links

• Weston-Super-Mare UK Parliament constituency (boundaries April 2010 – May 2024) at MapIt UK
• Weston-super-Mare UK Parliament constituency (boundaries from June 2024) at MapIt UK

Notes and References

1. Web site: The 2023 Review of Parliamentary Constituency Boundaries in England – Volume two: Constituency names, designations and composition – South West . Boundary Commission for England . 29 June 2024 . dmy .
2. Web site: South West Boundary Commission for England . 2023-06-20 . boundarycommissionforengland.independent.gov.uk.
3. Web site: The Parliamentary Constituencies Order 2023 . Schedule 1 Part 7 South West region.
4. https://www.theguardian.com/news/datablog/2010/nov/17/unemployment-and-employment-statistics-economics Unemployment claimants by constituency
5. Web site: Weston-super-Mare 1918–. Parliamentary Debates (Hansard). 6 October 2012.
6. Web site: Notional results for a UK general election on 12 December 2019 . 11 July 2024 . Rallings & Thrasher, Professor David Denver (Scotland), Nicholas Whyte (NI) for Sky News, PA, BBC News and ITV News . UK Parliament.