Penrith and The Border (UK Parliament constituency)
Encyclopedia
Penrith and The Border is a county constituency of the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom
. It is represented by one Member of Parliament (MP)
elected by the first past the post system of election
. This Cumbrian
constituency was first contested in 1950
.
when the former cabinet minister William Whitelaw became the leader of the House of Lords: the by-election took place a mere seven weeks after the 1983 general election
.
with North Cumberland
. The constituency was enlarged in the 1980s by taking first most of the northern part of the former Westmorland
constituency and later the Kirkby Stephen/Tebay area of the Westmorland and Lonsdale
constituency.
In the 1990s a small part of Penrith and The Border was transferred to the Carlisle borough constituency
.
The constituency corresponds to the Eden
district, along with parts of the City of Carlisle
district outside Carlisle itself and a small part of Allerdale
borough around the town of Wigton
.
Penrith and The Border is the largest constituency by area in England
. Despite the name it only includes part of the English border with Scotland. The neighbouring constituency of Hexham
(together with Berwick-upon-Tweed
) 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 Districts
, the Border Rural District
and also the Alston with Garrigill Rural District
, the Boundary Commission for England have created a modified Penrith
seat to reflect population changes.
The electoral wards used in the creation of this seat, fought for the first time at the general election of 2010 are;
and 1980s
and later joined the House of Lords
. His successor the former Conservative Chief Whip and junior minister, David Maclean sat as MP from 1983 to 2010 when he stood down due to the state of his health; he was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 1996. He was succeeded by the Conservative MP, Rory Stewart
.
Parliament of the United Kingdom
The Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the supreme legislative body in the United Kingdom, British Crown dependencies and British overseas territories, located in London...
. It is represented by one Member of Parliament (MP)
Member of Parliament
A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...
elected by the first past the post system of election
Election
An 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 operates since the 17th century. Elections may fill offices in the legislature, sometimes in the...
. This Cumbrian
Cumbria
Cumbria , is a non-metropolitan county in North West England. The county and Cumbria County Council, its local authority, came into existence in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972. Cumbria's largest settlement and county town is Carlisle. It consists of six districts, and in...
constituency was first contested in 1950
United Kingdom general election, 1950
The 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...
.
History
The constutuency is a safe Conservative seat, and has only ever been represented by Conservative MPs. However, the Conservatives came close to losing the seat in a 1983 by-electionPenrith and The Border by-election, 1983
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....
when the former cabinet minister William Whitelaw became the leader of the House of Lords: the by-election took place a mere seven weeks after the 1983 general election
United Kingdom general election, 1983
The 1983 United Kingdom general election was held on 9 June 1983. It gave the Conservative Party under Margaret Thatcher the most decisive election victory since that of Labour in 1945...
.
Boundaries
The constituency was created in 1950 by merging part of Penrith and CockermouthPenrith and Cockermouth (UK Parliament constituency)
Penrith 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 Cumberland
North Cumberland (UK Parliament constituency)
North 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 Westmorland
Westmorland (UK Parliament constituency)
Westmorland 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 Lonsdale
Westmorland and Lonsdale (UK Parliament constituency)
Westmorland 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 constituency
Carlisle (UK Parliament constituency)
Carlisle 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. It was a Labour seat from 1964 until 2010, although the Conservatives came close to victory in the elections in...
.
The constituency corresponds to the Eden
Eden, Cumbria
Eden 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 Carlisle
City of Carlisle
The 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 Allerdale
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....
borough around the town of Wigton
Wigton
Wigton is a small market town and civil parish outside the Lake District, in 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 England
England
England 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, with the North Sea to the east and 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
Hexham (UK Parliament constituency)
- Elections in the 2000s :- Elections in the 1990s :- Elections in the 1980s :- Elections in the 1970s :-Notes and references:...
(together with Berwick-upon-Tweed
Berwick-upon-Tweed (UK Parliament constituency)
Berwick-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 Districts
Penrith Rural District
Penrith 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 District
Border Rural District
Border 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 District
Alston Moor
Alston Moor is an area of moorland and civil parish in Cumbria, England, based around the small town of Alston. The parish had a population of 2,156 at the 2001 census. As well as the town of Alston, the parish includes the villages of Garrigill and Nenthead, along with the hamlets of Nenthall,...
Boundary review
Following their review of parliamentary representation in CumbriaCumbria
Cumbria , is a non-metropolitan county in North West England. The county and Cumbria County Council, its local authority, came into existence in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972. Cumbria's largest settlement and county town is Carlisle. It consists of six districts, and in...
, the Boundary Commission for England have created a modified Penrith
Penrith, Cumbria
Penrith was an urban district between 1894 and 1974, when it was merged into Eden District.The authority's area was coterminous with the civil parish of Penrith although when the council was abolished Penrith became an unparished area....
seat to reflect population changes.
The electoral wards used in the creation of this seat, fought for the first time at the general election of 2010 are;
- The entire district of Eden
- BramptonBrampton, Carlisle, CumbriaBrampton is a small market town and civil parish within the City of Carlisle district of Cumbria, England about 9 miles east of Carlisle and 2 miles south of Hadrian's Wall. It is situated off the A69 road which bypasses it...
, Great Corby and Geltsdale, Hayton, Irthing, LongtownLongtown, CumbriaLongtown 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 Rockcliffe, Lyne and Stanwix Rural from CarlisleCity 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... - Warnell, and Wigton from AllerdaleAllerdaleAllerdale 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 1970s1970s
File:1970s decade montage.png|From left, clockwise: US President Richard Nixon doing the V for Victory sign after his resignation from office after the Watergate scandal in 1974; Refugees aboard a US naval boat after the Fall of Saigon, leading to the end of the Vietnam War in 1975; The 1973 oil...
and 1980s
1980s
File:1980s decade montage.png|thumb|400px|From left, clockwise: The first Space Shuttle, Columbia, lifted off in 1981; American President Ronald Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev eased tensions between the two superpowers, leading to the end of the Cold War; The Fall of the Berlin Wall in...
and later joined the House of Lords
House of Lords
The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster....
. His successor the former Conservative Chief Whip and junior minister, David Maclean sat as MP from 1983 to 2010 when he stood down due to the state of his health; he was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 1996. He was succeeded by the Conservative MP, Rory Stewart
Rory Stewart
Roderick 'Rory' James Nugent Stewart OBE FRSL MP DUniv is a British academic, author, and Conservative politician. Since May 2010, he has been the Member of Parliament for Penrith and the Border, in the county of Cumbria, North West England.- Overview :Stewart was a senior coalition official in a...
.
| Election | Member | Party | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1950 United Kingdom general election, 1950 The 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... |
Robert Scott Robert Scott (Conservative politician) Sir 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... |
Conservative Conservative Party (UK) The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House... |
|
| 1955 United Kingdom general election, 1955 The 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 new leader and prime minister Sir Anthony Eden against Labour Party, now in their 20th year... |
William Whitelaw | Conservative Conservative Party (UK) The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House... |
|
| 1983 by-election Penrith and The Border by-election, 1983 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.... |
David Maclean David Maclean David John Maclean, Baron Blencathra is a Conservative Party life peer. He was the Member of Parliament for Penrith and The Border from 1983 to 2010.-Biography:... |
Conservative Conservative Party (UK) The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House... |
|
| 2010 | Rory Stewart Rory Stewart Roderick 'Rory' James Nugent Stewart OBE FRSL MP DUniv is a British academic, author, and Conservative politician. Since May 2010, he has been the Member of Parliament for Penrith and the Border, in the county of Cumbria, North West England.- Overview :Stewart was a senior coalition official in a... |
Conservative Conservative Party (UK) The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House... |
|
Elections in the 2010s
Elections in the 2000s
Elections in the 1990s
Elections in the 1980s
See also
- Penrith and the Border by-election, 1983Penrith and The Border by-election, 1983The 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....
- List of Parliamentary constituencies in Cumbria