County Buckinghamshire Electorate 79,664 (April 2015) Number of members One | Population 108,027 (2011 census) Created 1885 | |
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Member of parliament David Lidington (Conservative) | ||
Aylesbury is a constituency created in 1553 — created as a single-member seat in 1885 — represented in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom since 1992 by David Lidington, of the Conservative Party.
Contents
Boundaries
1885-1918: The Sessional Divisions of Aylesbury, Chesham, and Linslade, and parts of the second Sessional Division of Desborough and the Sessional Division of Winslow.
1918-1950: The Municipal Borough of Aylesbury, the Urban Districts of Beaconsfield and Chesham, the Rural District of Amersham, part of the Rural District of Aylesbury, in the Rural District of Long Crendon the civil parish of Towersey, and in the Rural District of Wycombe the civil parishes of Bledlow, Bradenham, Ellesborough, Great and Little Hampden, Great and Little Kimble, Horsenden, Hughenden, Ilmer, Monks Risborough, Princes Risborough, Radnage, Saunderton, and Wendover.
1950-1974: The Municipal Borough of Aylesbury, the Urban District of Chesham, the Rural District of Aylesbury, and in the Rural District of Amersham the civil parishes of Ashley Green, Chartridge, Cholesbury-cum-St Leonards, Great Missenden, Latimer, Lee, and Little Missenden.
1974-1983: The Municipal Borough of Aylesbury, the Rural District of Aylesbury, and in the Rural District of Wycombe the civil parishes of Bledlow-cum-Saunderton, Bradenham, Ellesborough, Great and Little Hampden, Great and Little Kimble, Ibstone, Lacey Green, Longwick-cum-Ilmer, Princes Risborough, Radnage, and Stokenchurch.
1983-1997: The District of Aylesbury Vale wards of Aston Clinton, Aylesbury Central, Bedgrove, Elmhurst, Gatehouse, Grange, Mandeville, Meadowcroft, Oakfield, Southcourt, Wendover, and Weston Turville, the District of Chiltern wards of Ballinger and South Heath, Great Missenden, and Prestwood and Heath End, and the District of Wycombe wards of Bledlow-cum-Saunderton, Icknield, Lacey Green and Hampden, Naphill-cum-Bradenham, Princes Risborough, and Stokenchurch.
1997-2010: The District of Aylesbury Vale wards of Aylesbury Central, Bedgrove, Elmhurst, Gatehouse, Grange, Mandeville, Meadowcroft, Oakfield, Southcourt, Wendover, and Weston Turville, the District of Chiltern wards of Ballinger and South Heath, Great Missenden, and Prestwood and Heath End, and the District of Wycombe wards of Bledlow-cum-Saunderton, Icknield, Lacey Green and Hampden, Naphill-cum-Bradenham, Princes Risborough, and Stokenchurch.
2010–present: The District of Aylesbury Vale wards of Aston Clinton, Aylesbury Central, Bedgrove, Coldharbour, Elmhurst and Watermead, Gatehouse, Mandeville and Elm Farm, Oakfield, Quarrendon, Southcourt, Walton Court and Hawkslade, and Wendover, and the District of Wycombe wards of Bledlow and Bradenham, Greater Hughenden, Lacey Green, Speen and the Hampdens, Stokenchurch, and Radnage.
The constituency is based on the large town of Aylesbury and its suburbs as well as a small swathe of villages broken up by woods and cultivated land in the centre of the Chilterns which cover most of Buckinghamshire and parts of three other counties.
History
The seat was a much narrower, generally urban borough with a two-member status at Westminster from its grant of a limited franchise in 1553 until the passing of the Redistribution of Seats Act 1885 when it transformed into a large county division which has seen on national boundary reviews a gradual reduction in physical size as its population has grown.
The Conservative Party has held the seat since 1924, and held it at the 2015 general election with a 50.7% share of the vote. The result made the seat the 133rd safest of the Conservative Party's 331 seats by percentage of majority. The closest result since 1929 was in 1966 when the Labour Party candidate fell 7.4% short of a majority.
David Lidington, the current incumbent, is the Leader of the House of Commons and Lord President of the Council in Theresa May's cabinet. During the premiership of David Cameron he served as Minister for Europe, campaigning unsuccessfully (in the constituency as well as the whole country) to remain in the EU. From 2007 to 2010 he had been his party's Shadow Secretary of State for Northern Ireland.
Sir Stanley Reed edited The Times of India from 1907 until 1924 and received correspondence from the major figures of India such as Mahatma Gandhi. In all he lived in India for fifty years. He was respected in the United Kingdom as an expert on Indian current affairs. He devised the sobriquet for Jaipur, 'the Pink City of India'.
Constituency profile
Aylesbury expanded significantly after World War II, in a diverse way with a similar proportion of this recent development being social housing estates as private estates.
Workless claimants who were registered jobseekers were in November 2012 lower than the regional average of 2.4% and national average of 3.8%, at 2.2% of the population based on a statistical compilation by The Guardian.
Whereas the average house price is higher than the national average, in the Aylesbury Vale authority (which largely overlaps) this in the first quarter of 2013 was £262,769, the lowest of the four authorities in Buckinghamshire and this compares to the highest county average of £549,046 in South Bucks District.
MPs 1553–1659
MPs since 1885
Under the Redistribution of Seats Act 1885, the parliamentary borough of Aylesbury was abolished. The name was transferred to a new, larger, county division of Buckinghamshire, which elected one Member of Parliament (MP).
Elections in the 1940s
General Election 1939/40:
Another General Election was required to take place before the end of 1940. The political parties had been making preparations for an election to take place from 1939 and by the end of this year, the following candidates had been selected; *Conservative: Stanley Reed