County Derbyshire Created 1950 European Parliament constituency East Midlands Number of members 1 Party Conservative Party | Electorate 72,617 (December 2010) Created from Derby Member of parliament Amanda Solloway Replaced by Derby | |
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Derby North /ˈdɑːrbi nɔːrθ/ is a constituency formed of half of the city of Derby represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2015 by Amanda Solloway, of the Conservative Party.
Contents
Boundaries
1950-1955: The County Borough of Derby wards of Abbey, Babington, Becket, Bridge, Derwent, Friar Gate, King's Mead, and Rowditch.
1955-1974: The County Borough of Derby wards of Abbey, Babington, Becket, Bridge, Derwent, Friar Gate, King's Mead, and Rowditch, and the civil parish of Chaddesden in the Rural District of Shardlow.
1974-1983: The County Borough of Derby wards of Abbey, Allestree, Breadsall, Chaddesden, Darley, Derwent, Friar Gate, Mickleover, and Spondon.
1983-2010: The City of Derby wards of Abbey, Allestree, Breadsall, Chaddesden, Darley, Derwent, Mackworth, and Spondon.
2010-present: The City of Derby wards of Abbey, Chaddesden, Darley, Derwent, Littleover, Mackworth, and Mickleover.
Many constituency boundaries changed for the 2010 general election and this seat changed quite significantly which made the seat less of a Labour Party safe seat based on council results for electoral wards.
Constituency profile
The constituency covers a largely residential area immediately north of Derby city centre, including some of the city’s most affluent suburbs, as well as some of its council housing, though much of this is former council housing in private ownership. Unemployment is below the national average. Average incomes are above the national average.
History
A relatively close seat for two largest parties since 1950, Derby North has been held by the Labour Party's Clifford Wilcock, Niall MacDermot then Phillip Whitehead. In the 1979 election, it was covered by the BBC as the bellwether seat as the 41st of the 41 seats that Margaret Thatcher needed to win; in that year it stayed Labour. Its exit poll was a central point of discussion of the BBC's election night coverage.
The Conservative Greg Knight gained the seat as part of a landslide victory of 1983 and held it until 1997.
Labour's Bob Laxton defeated Knight in 1997 and held the seat until retiring in 2010, when the seat was held for Labour by Chris Williamson. In 2015 Amanda Solloway, Conservative, gained the seat with a swing of 0.8%. The 2015 result gave the seat the second most marginal majority of the Conservative Party's 331 seats by percentage of majority.
Elections in the 2010s
Boundary changes occurred in 2010, so percentage changes are based on notional results