County Northamptonshire Created 1983 Member of parliament Tom Pursglove Replaced by Kettering, Wellingborough | Electorate 79,468 (December 2010) European Parliament constituency East Midlands Party Conservative Party | |
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Created from Kettering and Wellingborough Major settlements Corby, Oundle, Raunds, Thrapston, Irthlingborough | ||
Corby is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since May 2015 by Tom Pursglove of the Conservative Party.
Contents
History
The seat was created due to population increases in the county for the 1983 general election. Since creation it has been a marginal seat alternating between Labour and the Conservative representatives with marginal majorities relative to national averages on all but two occasions, the 1997 Labour landslide and the 2012 by-election. On 6 August 2012, MP for the seat since 2010 Louise Mensch announced she was resigning, triggering a by-election held on 15 November 2012. Labour's Andy Sawford won, becoming the first Labour MP for the seat since Phil Hope was defeated in 2010, and only the second in the seat's history. This was Labour's first by-election win from a Conservative since the Wirral South by-election, 1997, won by Ben Chapman. At the 2015 general election, the Conservatives recovered the seat.
Boundaries
1983-2010: The District of Corby, and the District of East Northamptonshire wards of Barnwell, Brigstock, Drayton, Forest, Irthlingborough, King's Cliffe, Lower Nene, Margaret Beaufort, Oundle, Raunds, Ringstead, Stanwick, Thrapston, Willibrook, and Woodford.
2010-present: The Borough of Corby, and the District of East Northamptonshire wards of Barnwell, Dryden, Fineshade, Irthlingborough, King's Forest, Lower Nene, Lyveden, Oundle, Prebendal, Raunds Saxon, Raunds Windmill, Ringstead, Stanwick, Thrapston, and Woodford.
The constituency was created in 1983 from parts of the seats of Kettering and Wellingborough. It is named after the town of Corby in Northamptonshire, and also covers most of the local government district of East Northamptonshire. The seat is a highly marginal contest between the Tories and Labour, with Labour's vote strongest in the town of Corby itself, against the solidly Conservative rural areas of East Northamptonshire.
The constituency is often called "Corby and East Northamptonshire", but the Parliamentary Constituencies Order and Whitaker's Almanack both make it clear that its official name is "Corby".