Ashfield (UK Parliament constituency)

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Ashfield County constituency
Ashfield shown within Nottinghamshire, and Nottinghamshire shown within England
Created:	1955
MP:	Geoff Hoon
Party:	Labour
Type:	House of Commons
County:	Nottinghamshire
EP constituency:	East Midlands

Ashfield is a county constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom.

In normal circumstances a safe Labour area, the Conservatives pulled off a by-election upset in the seat in 1977, but at the general election two years later it was regained by Labour. There were strong Liberal challenges to the Labour dominance of Ashfield in the 1980s and at the 2005 general election the Liberal Democrats were the only party to increase their share of the vote.

Since 2007 the Lib Dems have controlled Ashfield District Council. In the constituency both Labour and the Lib Dems have eleven district councillors and the Conservatives have none.

Contents 1 Boundaries 2 Boundary review 3 Members of Parliament 4 Election results 4.1 Elections in the 2000s 4.2 Elections in the 1970s 5 References 6 See also

[edit] Boundaries

Ashfield County Constituency was formed in 1970. At that date it covered the areas of the Urban Districts of Hucknall, Kirkby in Ashfield and Sutton in Ashfield, together with three Civil Parishes (Annesley, Felley and Selston) in Basford Rural District.

In 1974 a Local Government District called Ashfield was formed that had the same boundaries as the constituency.

In 1983 the boundary of the constituency was significantly^[1] altered. The town of Hucknall was transferred to the new Sherwood constituency, while the town of Eastwood and the ward of Brinsley were added, having previously been in the Beeston constituency, which was abolished at that time.

[edit] Boundary review

In their most recent review of parliamentary boundaries in Nottinghamshire, the Boundary Commission for England made only minor changes to the existing constituency to allow for population changes. The boundaries of the modified constituency to be fought at the Next United Kingdom general election are:

• From the district of Ashfield - Jacksdale, Kirkby in Ashfield Central, Kirkby in Ashfield East, Kirkby in Ashfield West, Selston, Sutton in Ashfield Central, Sutton in Ashfield East, Sutton in Ashfield North, Sutton in Ashfield West, Underwood and Woodhouse
• From the Borough of Broxtowe - Brinsley, Eastwood North and Greasley (Beauvale) and Eastwood South.

[edit] Members of Parliament

Former Secretary of State for Defence, Geoff Hoon, has represented the seat for the Labour Party since the 1992 general election, when he succeeded the three-term Labour member Frank Haynes.

Election		Member	Party
	1955	William Warbey	Labour
	1966	David Marquand	Labour
	1977 by-election	Tim Smith	Conservative
	1979	Frank Haynes	Labour
	1992	Geoff Hoon	Labour

[edit] Election results

[edit] Elections in the 2000s

UK general election, 2005: Ashfield
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Geoff Hoon	20,433	48.6	-9.5
	Conservative	Giles Inglis-Jones	10,220	24.3	-0.1
	Liberal Democrat	Wendy Johnson	5,829	13.9	+2.6
	Ashfield Independents	Roy Adkins	2,292	5.5	N/A
	Independent	Kate Allsop	1,900	4.5	N/A
	Veritas	Sarah Hemstock	1,108	2.6	N/A
	Independent	Eddie Grenfell	269	0.6	N/A
Majority			10,213	24.3
Turnout			42,051	57.3	+3.7

UK general election, 2001: Ashfield
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Geoff Hoon	22,875	58.1	-7.0
	Conservative	Julian Leigh	9,607	24.4	+4.2
	Liberal Democrat	Bill Smith	4,428	11.3	+1.6
	Independent	Charlie Harby	1,471	3.7	N/A
	Socialist Alliance	George Watson	589	1.5	N/A
	Socialist Labour	Katrina Howse	380	1.0	N/A
Majority			13,268	33.7
Turnout			39,350	53.6	-16.4
	Labour hold		Swing	{{{swing}}}

[edit] Elections in the 1970s

United Kingdom Parliament: Ashfield by-election, 1977
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Tim Smith	19,616	43.1	-20.3
	Labour	Michael Cowan	19,352	42.5	+20.2
	Liberal	Hampton Flint	4,380	9.6	-4.7
	National Front	George Herrod	1,734	3.8
	Socialist Workers	June Hall	453	1.0
Majority			264	0.6
	Conservative gain from Labour		Swing	20.8

[edit] References

1. ^ Alamanac of British Politics, 3rd edition, Robert Waller

1. Youngs, Frederic A., Guide to the Local Administrative Units of England, Vol II, Northern England, London, 1991

[edit] See also

• Ashfield by-election, 1977
• List of Parliamentary constituencies in Nottinghamshire

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