North Warwickshire (UK Parliament constituency)

North Warwickshire
County constituency for the House of Commons
Boundary of North Warwickshire in Warwickshire.
Location of Warwickshire within England.
County	Warwickshire
Electorate	70,544 (December 2010)
Major settlements	Atherstone, Bedworth, Coleshill and Polesworth
Current constituency
Created	1983
Member of parliament	Craig Tracey (Conservative)
Number of members	One
Created from	Meriden Nuneaton
1832–1885
Number of members	Two
Type of constituency	County constituency
Replaced by	Nuneaton Rugby Stratford-on-Avon Tamworth
Created from	Warwickshire
Overlaps
European Parliament constituency	West Midlands

North Warwickshire is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2015 by Craig Tracey, a Conservative.

Boundaries

1832-1885: The Hundred of Hemlingford, the County of the City of Coventry, and the Divisions of Rugby and Kirby in the Hundred of Knightlow.

1983-2010: The Borough of North Warwickshire, and the Borough of Nuneaton and Bedworth wards of Exhall, Heath, Mount Pleasant, and Poplar.

2010-present: The Borough of North Warwickshire wards of Atherstone Central, Atherstone North, Atherstone South and Mancetter, Baddesley and Grendon, Coleshill North, Coleshill South, Curdworth, Dordon, Fillongley, Hurley and Wood End, Kingsbury, Newton Regis and Warton, Polesworth East, Polesworth West, and Water Orton, and the Borough of Nuneaton and Bedworth wards of Bede, Exhall, Heath, Poplar, and Slough.

The constituency since 2010 has all but two wards of North Warwickshire.

History

History 1832–1885

The North Warwickshire constituency was created for the 1832 general election, when the Great Reform Act divided the former Warwickshire constituency into two new divisions: North Warwickshire and South Warwickshire.

Under the Redistribution of Seats Act 1885, North Warwickshire was abolished for the 1885 general election, when Warwickshire was divided into four new single-member constituencies: Nuneaton, Rugby, Stratford-on-Avon and Tamworth.

History 1983–present

The current North Warwickshire county constituency was created for the 1983 general election, replacing outlying parts of the Meriden and Nuneaton constituencies. The seat was won by Francis Maude of the Conservative Party at the 1983 general election, who held it until 1992, when it was taken by Mike O'Brien of Labour. Labour held the seat comfortably until 2010.

On 8 March 2007, former Army Officer and polar explorer Dan Byles was selected at an open primary to contest North Warwickshire for the Conservative Party. At the 2010 general election, Byles won the seat off Mike O'Brien by just 54 votes, making him the Conservative Member of Parliament with the smallest majority in the country.

Constituency profile

Warwickshire North has wards which are the most "working-class" (lowest average income) and industrial of the six constituencies in the county, politically frequently with the best returns locally for Labour candidates. In the 2010 election all six Warwickshire constituencies were won by the Conservative party, this constituency was the most marginal, falling on a substantial swing of 8.1% from Labour to the Conservatives (compared to a national swing of 5%).

Like much of the county, the area includes many rural villages which can today be classified as 'commuter' and 'retirement' south of the National Forest, south east of Tamworth and the small cathedral city of Lichfield and centred less than 10 miles (16 km) east of Birmingham which provides some work locally in the creative and international export sectors. Many towns and villages have a history of coal mining and heavy industry and with that a strong Labour vote.

Settlements include Bedworth, just north of Coventry, and the historic market town of Atherstone.

Members of Parliament

MPs 1832–1885

Election	1st Member		1st Party	2nd Member		2nd Party
1832		William Stratford Dugdale	Conservative		Sir John Eardley-Wilmot, Bt	Conservative
1843 by-election					Charles Newdigate Newdegate	Conservative
1847		Richard Spooner	Conservative
1864 by-election		William Bromley-Davenport	Conservative
1884 by-election		Philip Muntz	Conservative
1885	Constituency abolished: see Nuneaton, Rugby, Stratford-on-Avon and Tamworth

MPs since 1983

Election		Member	Party
	1983	Francis Maude	Conservative
	1992	Mike O'Brien	Labour
	2010	Dan Byles	Conservative
	2015	Craig Tracey	Conservative

Elections

See also: Opinion polling in United Kingdom constituencies, 2010–15 § North Warwickshire

General Election 2015: North Warwickshire

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Craig Tracey	20,042	42.3	+2.1
	Labour	Mike O'Brien	17,069	36.0	-4.0
	UKIP	William Cash	8,256	17.4	+14.6
	Liberal Democrat	Alan Beddow	978	2.1	-9.8
	Green	Ian Bonner	894	1.9	+1.9
	TUSC	Eileen Hunter	138	0.3	+0.3
Majority			2,973	6.3
Turnout			47,377	67.2	-0.2
	Conservative hold		Swing

Election	Political result		Candidate		Party	Votes	%	±%
General Election 2010  Turnout: 47,265 (67.4%) +4.5		Conservative gain from Labour Majority: 54 (0.1%) -16.0 Swing: +8.1% from Lab to Con		Dan Byles	Conservative	18,993	40.2	+8.2
				Mike O'Brien	Labour	18,939	40.1	-8.0
				Stephen Martin	Liberal Democrat	5,481	11.6	-1.9
				Jason Holmes	BNP	2,106	4.5	+0.4
				Steven Fowler	UKIP	1,335	2.8	+0.1
				David Lane	English Democrats	411	0.9	N/A
General Election 2005 Electorate: North Warwickshire Turnout: 46,939 (62.2%) +2.0		Labour hold Majority: 7,553 (16.1%) -5.6 Swing: +2.8% from Lab to Con		Mike O'Brien	Labour	22,561	48.1	-6.0
				Ian Gibb	Conservative	15,008	32.0	-0.4
				Jerry Roodhouse	Liberal Democrat	6,212	13.2	+1.8
				Michaela Mackenzie	BNP	1,910	4.1	N/A
				Iain Campbell	UKIP	1,248	2.7	+0.6
General Election 2001 Electorate: North Warwickshire Turnout: 44,409 (60.2%) -14.6		Labour hold Majority: 9,639 (21.7%) -5.5 Swing: +2.6% from Lab to Con		Mike O'Brien	Labour	24,023	54.1	-4.3
				Geoffrey Parsons	Conservative	14,384	32.4	+1.2
				William Powell	Liberal Democrat	5,052	11.4	+4.0
				John Flynn	UKIP	950	2.1	+1.1
General Election 1997 Electorate: North Warwickshire Turnout: 54,239 (74.7%) -8.1		Labour hold Majority: 14,767 (27.2%) +24.8 Swing: +12.4% from Con to Lab		Mike O'Brien	Labour	31,669	58.4	+12.3
				Stephen Hammond	Conservative	16,902	31.2	-13.4
				William Powell	Liberal Democrat	4,040	7.4	-2.9
				Roland Mole	Referendum	917	1.7	N/A
				Christopher Cooke	UKIP	533	1.0	N/A
				Ian Moorecroft	Independent	178	0.3	N/A
General Election 1992  Electorate: North Warwickshire Turnout: 59,862 (82.8%) +4.0		Labour gain from Conservative Majority: 1,453 (2.4%) −2.6 Swing: +3.7% from Con to Lab		Mike O'Brien	Labour	27,577	46.1	+6.0
				Francis Maude	Conservative	26,124	43.6	−1.4
				Noel R. Mitchell	Liberal Democrat	6,161	10.3	−4.6
General Election 1987 Electorate: North Warwickshire Turnout: 79.87%		Conservative hold Majority: 2,829 (5.01%)		Francis Maude	Conservative	25,453	45.08
				Mike O'Brien	Labour	22,624	40.07
				S.J. Neale	Social Democratic	8,382	14.85
General Election 1983 Electorate: North Warwickshire Turnout: 78.00%		Conservative hold Majority: 2,585 (4.83%)		Francis Maude	Conservative	22,452	41.95
				J.E. Tomlinson	Labour	19,867	37.12
				H. Kerry	Social Democratic	11,207	20.94

See also

• List of Parliamentary constituencies in Warwickshire