Boston and Skegness (UK Parliament constituency)

Boundaries

1997-2010: The Borough of Boston, and the District of East Lindsey wards of Burgh le Marsh, Friskney, Frithville, Ingoldmells, St Clement's, Scarbrough, Seacroft, Sibsey, Wainfleet, and Winthorpe.

2010-present: The Borough of Boston, and the District of East Lindsey wards of Burgh le Marsh, Croft, Frithville, Ingoldmells, St Clement's, Scarbrough, Seacroft, Sibsey, Stickney, Wainfleet and Friskney, and Winthorpe.

Boston and Skegness is bordered by the constituencies of Louth and Horncastle to the north, Sleaford and North Hykeham to the west, and South Holland and The Deepings to the south.

The constituency boundaries changed at the 2010 general election, bringing in the two rural wards of Stickney and Croft from Louth and Horncastle.

Constituency profile

Boston, Lincolnshire is a historically important town with a traditional town square with frequent markets and an iconic church spire. Skegness is the hub town of coastal villages including holiday villages. The resort has many amusements, long beaches, mini-golf/crazy-golf courses and other holiday activities, especially in summer.

Apart from tourism, much of the working population is employed in agriculture, with a particular emphasis on arable farming and flowers. Manufacturing, food processing, retail and defence are also important to the local economy.

According to the 2011 Census Boston is now "home to a higher proportion of eastern European immigrants than anywhere else in England and Wales ... 10.6% of the town's 64,600-strong population comes from one of the "new" EU countries such as Poland, Lithuania, Latvia or Romania"

History

The constituency was created in 1997 from parts of the former seats of Holland with Boston and East Lindsey. Parts of the more rural south were separated from Holland with Boston to create South Holland and The Deepings. The in part predecessor area's veteran MP Richard Body held the seat at the 1997 general election with a 1.4% majority. Since 2005 with majorities of more than 10%, it has arguably been a safe seat for the Conservative Party.

After retiring from Parliament, Body left the Conservatives and joined the UK Independence Party. His membership later lapsed and he joined the English Democrats. UKIP came third in the constituency in the 2005 election with 9.6% compared with a national average of 2.2%.

Mark Simmonds had a 1.3% majority over Labour in the 2001 election, and this increased in 2005 to 14.1%. After his re-election Simmonds was appointed Shadow Minister for International Development, before being promoted to be a Shadow Health Minister in July 2007. Following the 2010 general election, he became Parliamentary Private Secretary to Caroline Spelman, Secretary of State for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs. Following the 2012 reshuffle, he was appointed a junior Foreign Office Minister under William Hague, Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs.

On 11 August 2014, Simmonds resigned as Africa Minister at the Foreign Office. He stood down as MP for Boston and Skegness at the May 2015 general election, citing the "intolerable" pressure on his family life as the reason for his resignation.

On 8 May 2015, Matt Warman was duly elected as the Member of Parliament. The conservative majority shrunk to 10% with UKIP second. His first speech as MP focussed on the fact that the area was not a single issue constituency.

2014 Open Primary

After Mark Simmonds announced that he would not stand at the 2015 general election, the local Conservatives decided to select their candidate using the open primary system.

Four candidates were selected from over 50 applications, and members of the public who were entitled to vote in the constituency were encouraged to attend. In a very close vote, Matt Warman won.

About 80 members of the public turned up to the open primary, receiving well over 100 registrations to attend.

Members of Parliament

Holland with Boston and East Lindsey prior to 1997