Penrith and The Border is a county constituency of the House of Commons of the
Parliament of the United KingdomThe Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the supreme legislative body in the United Kingdom and British overseas territories. It alone has parliamentary sovereignty, conferring upon it ultimate power over all other political bodies in the UK and its territories...
. It is represented by one
Member of Parliament (MP)A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a parliament. In many countries the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a unique title, such as senate, and thus also have unique titles for its members, such as senators. Members of...
elected by the first past the post system of
electionAn election is a formal decision-making process by which a population chooses an individual to hold public office. Elections have been the usual mechanism by which modern representative democracy since the 17th century. Elections may fill offices in the legislature, sometimes in the executive and...
.
The constituency was created in 1950 by merging part of
Penrith and CockermouthPenrith and Cockermouth was a parliamentary constituency centred on the towns of Penrith and Cockermouth in Cumberland, England. 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.-History:The...
with
North CumberlandNorth Cumberland was a parliamentary constituency in Cumberland which 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 of election....
. The constituency was enlarged in the 1980s by taking first most of the northern part of the former
WestmorlandWestmorland was a constituency covering the county of Westmorland in the North of England, which returned Members of Parliament to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom.The constituency had two separate periods of existence....
constituency and later the Kirkby Stephen/Tebay area of the
Westmorland and LonsdaleWestmorland and Lonsdale is a parliamentary constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elects one Member of Parliament by the first past the post system of election.-Boundaries:...
constituency.
In the 1990s a small part of Penrith and The Border was transferred to the
Carlisle borough constituencyCarlisle is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elects one Member of Parliament by the first past the post system of election...
.
The constituency corresponds to the
EdenEden is a local government district in Cumbria, England. Its council is based in Penrith. It is named after the River Eden which flows north through the district toward Carlisle....
district, along with parts of the
City of CarlisleThe City of Carlisle , is a local government district of Cumbria, England, with the status of a city and non-metropolitan district. It is named after its largest settlement, Carlisle, but covers a far larger area which includes the towns of Brampton and Longtown, as well as outlying villages...
district outside Carlisle itself and a small part of
AllerdaleAllerdale is a non-metropolitan district of Cumbria, England, with borough status. Its council is based in Workington and the borough has a population of 93,492 according to the 2001 census....
borough around the town of
WigtonWigton is a small market town on the edge of the Lake District, the administrative county of Cumbria in England, and traditionally in Cumberland. It is the bustling and thriving centre of the Solway Plain, situated between the Caldbeck Fells and the Solway coast...
.
Penrith and The Border is the largest constituency by area in
EnglandEngland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the North Sea to the east, with the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
.
Penrith and The Border is a county constituency of the House of Commons of the
Parliament of the United KingdomThe Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the supreme legislative body in the United Kingdom and British overseas territories. It alone has parliamentary sovereignty, conferring upon it ultimate power over all other political bodies in the UK and its territories...
. It is represented by one
Member of Parliament (MP)A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a parliament. In many countries the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a unique title, such as senate, and thus also have unique titles for its members, such as senators. Members of...
elected by the first past the post system of
electionAn election is a formal decision-making process by which a population chooses an individual to hold public office. Elections have been the usual mechanism by which modern representative democracy since the 17th century. Elections may fill offices in the legislature, sometimes in the executive and...
.
The constituency was created in 1950 by merging part of
Penrith and CockermouthPenrith and Cockermouth was a parliamentary constituency centred on the towns of Penrith and Cockermouth in Cumberland, England. 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.-History:The...
with
North CumberlandNorth Cumberland was a parliamentary constituency in Cumberland which 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 of election....
. The constituency was enlarged in the 1980s by taking first most of the northern part of the former
WestmorlandWestmorland was a constituency covering the county of Westmorland in the North of England, which returned Members of Parliament to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom.The constituency had two separate periods of existence....
constituency and later the Kirkby Stephen/Tebay area of the
Westmorland and LonsdaleWestmorland and Lonsdale is a parliamentary constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elects one Member of Parliament by the first past the post system of election.-Boundaries:...
constituency.
In the 1990s a small part of Penrith and The Border was transferred to the
Carlisle borough constituencyCarlisle is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elects one Member of Parliament by the first past the post system of election...
.
Boundaries
The constituency corresponds to the
EdenEden is a local government district in Cumbria, England. Its council is based in Penrith. It is named after the River Eden which flows north through the district toward Carlisle....
district, along with parts of the
City of CarlisleThe City of Carlisle , is a local government district of Cumbria, England, with the status of a city and non-metropolitan district. It is named after its largest settlement, Carlisle, but covers a far larger area which includes the towns of Brampton and Longtown, as well as outlying villages...
district outside Carlisle itself and a small part of
AllerdaleAllerdale is a non-metropolitan district of Cumbria, England, with borough status. Its council is based in Workington and the borough has a population of 93,492 according to the 2001 census....
borough around the town of
WigtonWigton is a small market town on the edge of the Lake District, the administrative county of Cumbria in England, and traditionally in Cumberland. It is the bustling and thriving centre of the Solway Plain, situated between the Caldbeck Fells and the Solway coast...
.
Penrith and The Border is the largest constituency by area in
EnglandEngland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the North Sea to the east, with the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
. Despite the name it only includes part of the English border with Scotland. The neighbouring constituency of Hexham (together with
Berwick-upon-TweedBerwick-upon-Tweed is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elects one Member of Parliament by the first past the post system of election.-Boundaries:...
) also takes in the border area. The name stems from the fact that when the constituency was first created it consisted of the
Penrith Rural and Urban DistrictsPenrith was a rural district within the administrative county of Cumberland, England that existed from 1894 to 1974 with slight boundary changes in 1934....
, the
Border Rural DistrictBorder was a rural district of Cumberland, England from 1934 to 1974.It was formed by a County Review Order in 1934, by a merger of Longtown Rural District, most of Brampton Rural District and nearly all of Carlisle Rural District, as well as a part of Penrith Rural District...
and also the
Alston with Garrigill Rural DistrictAlston Moor is an area of moorland and civil parish in Cumbria, England, based around the small town of Alston. The parish has a population of 2,156 . Apart from the town of Alston, the parish also includes the villages of Garrigill and Nenthead, along with the hamlets of Nenthall, Nentsberry,...
Boundary review
Following their review of parliamentary representation in
CumbriaCumbria is a shire county in the North West of England. Cumbria came into existence as a county in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972...
, the Boundary Commission for England have created a modified
PenrithPenrith is a market town in the county of Cumbria, England. It is in the Eden Valley, just north of the River Eamont, and lies less than outside the boundaries of the Lake District National Park. Other local rivers bounding the town are the River Lowther and the River Petteril...
seat to reflect population changes.
The electoral wards used in the creation of this seat, to be fought for the first time at the
Next United Kingdom general electionThe next United Kingdom general election will take place in all constituencies of the United Kingdom for seats in the House of Commons due on or before Thursday 3 June 2010....
are;
- The entire district of Eden
- Brampton
Brampton is a small market town within the City of Carlisle district of Cumbria, England about 9 miles east of Carlisle and 2 Roman miles south of Hadrian's Wall. It is situated next to the A69 road...
, Great Corby and Geltsdale, Hayton, Irthing, LongtownLongtown is a small town in northern Cumbria, England, with a population of around 3,000. It is in the parish of Arthuret and on the River Esk, not far from the Anglo-Scottish border. Nearby was the Battle of Arfderydd....
and RockcliffeRockcliffe is a village and civil parish in the City of Carlisle district of Cumbria, England. Part of the parish is a marshy peninsula between the mouths of the rivers Esk and Eden...
, Lyne and Stanwix Rural from CarlisleThe City of Carlisle , is a local government district of Cumbria, England, with the status of a city and non-metropolitan district. It is named after its largest settlement, Carlisle, but covers a far larger area which includes the towns of Brampton and Longtown, as well as outlying villages...
- Warnell, and Wigton from Allerdale
Allerdale is a non-metropolitan district of Cumbria, England, with borough status. Its council is based in Workington and the borough has a population of 93,492 according to the 2001 census....
Members of Parliament
The seat was represented for nearly three decades by William Whitelaw, who served as a cabinet minister in various capacities during Conservative governments of the
1970sThe 1970s was the decade that ran from January 1, 1970, to December 31, 1979.In the Western world, social progressive values that began in the 1960s, such as increasing political awareness and political and economic liberty of women, continued to grow...
and
1980sThe 1980s was the decade that ran from January 1, 1980, to December 31, 1989.The time period saw social, economic and general change as wealth and production migrated to newly industrializing economies...
and later joined the
House of LordsThe House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom and is also commonly referred to as "the Lords". Parliament comprises the Sovereign, the House of Commons , and the Lords...
. His successor and the current Conservative MP, David Maclean, has announced he is standing down at the next general election due to the state of his health - he was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 1996.
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1950The 1950 United Kingdom general election was the first general election ever after a full term of a Labour government. Despite polling over one and a half million votes more than the Conservatives, the election, held on 23 February 1950 resulted in Labour receiving a slim majority of just five...
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Robert Scott Robert Donald Scott was a British Conservative Party politician.He was elected unopposed as Member of Parliament for Wansbeck in a by-election on 22 July 1940, but at the 1945 general election he lost his seat to Labour's Alf Robens, who won with a majority of over 13,000 votes.At the 1950...
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ConservativeThe Conservative and Unionist Party, more commonly known as the Conservatives, the Conservative Party, or Tory Party is a conservative political party in the United Kingdom...
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1955The 1955 United Kingdom general election was held on 26 May 1955, four years after the previous general election. It resulted in a substantially increased majority of 60 for the Conservative government under Sir Anthony Eden against the Labour Party under Clement Attlee...
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William Whitelaw |
ConservativeThe Conservative and Unionist Party, more commonly known as the Conservatives, the Conservative Party, or Tory Party is a conservative political party in the United Kingdom...
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1983 by-election The Penrith and The Border by-election, 1983 was a parliamentary by-election held on 28 July 1983 for the British House of Commons constituency of Penrith and The Border in Cumbria.- Vacancy :...
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David Maclean David John MacLean is a Conservative Party politician. He has been Member of Parliament for Penrith and The Border since 1983.-Biography:...
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ConservativeThe Conservative and Unionist Party, more commonly known as the Conservatives, the Conservative Party, or Tory Party is a conservative political party in the United Kingdom...
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Election results
Elections in the 2000s
Elections in the 1980s
See also