South Bedfordshire (UK Parliament constituency)

South Bedfordshire
Former County constituency for the House of Commons
1950–1983
Number of members	One

South Bedfordshire was a county constituency in Bedfordshire. It returned one Member of Parliament to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, elected by the first past the post system.

The constituency was created for the 1950 general election, and abolished for the 1983 general election.

Boundaries

1950-1974: The Municipal Borough of Dunstable, the Urban District of Leighton Buzzard, the Municipal Borough of Luton wards of Leagrave and Limbury, and the Rural District of Luton.

1974-1983: The Municipal Borough of Dunstable, the Urban District of Leighton-Linslade, and the Rural District of Luton.

Members of Parliament

Election		Member	Party
	1950	Edward Moeran	Labour
	1951	Norman Cole	Conservative
	1966	Gwilym Roberts	Labour
	1970	David Madel	Conservative
	1983	constituency abolished

Elections

Elections in the 1950s

General Election 1950: Bedfordshire South

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Edward Warner Moeran	20,070	45.3	n/a
	Conservative	William A Fearnley-Whittingstall	18,546	40.8	n/a
	Liberal	James Stewart Knight	5,725	12.9	n/a
Majority					n/a
Turnout					n/a
	Labour win

General Election 1951: Electorate

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative
	Labour
Majority
Turnout
	Conservative hold		Swing

General Election 1955:

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative
	Labour
Majority
Turnout
	Conservative hold		Swing

General Election 1959: South Bedfordshire

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Norman John Cole	25,861	47.1
	Labour	Walter Hamlet Johnson	21,102	38.5
	Liberal	Renee Rachel Soskin	7,912	14.4
Majority			4,759	8.6
Turnout			54,875	83.9
	Conservative hold		Swing

Elections in the 1960s

General Election 1964:

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Dennis J. Nisbet
	Conservative
Majority
Turnout
	Labour gain from Conservative		Swing

General Election 1966: South Bedfordshire

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour
	Conservative
	Liberal	Hamilton Simonds-Gooding
Majority
Turnout
	Labour hold		Swing

Elections in the 1970s

General Election 1970: South Bedfordshire

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative
	Labour
	Liberal	Godfrey Shocket
Majority
Turnout
	Conservative gain from Labour		Swing

References

• Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "B" (part 2)

• British parliamentary election results, 1950-1973 by FWS Craig
• British parliamentary election results, 1950-1973 by FWS Craig
• British parliamentary election results, 1950-1973 by FWS Craig
• F W S Craig, British Parliamentary Election Results 1950-1973; Political Reference Publications, Glasgow 1973
• F W S Craig, British Parliamentary Election Results 1950-1973; Political Reference Publications, Glasgow 1973
• British parliamentary election results, 1950-1973 by FWS Craig
• British parliamentary election results, 1950-1973 by FWS Craig