County Hampshire Created 1918 European Parliament constituency South East England Number of members 1 | Electorate 71,947 (December 2010) Created from Portsmouth Member of parliament Flick Drummond Replaced by Portsmouth | |
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Portsmouth South is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2015 by Conservative Flick Drummond.
Contents
Boundaries
1918-1950: The County Borough of Portsmouth wards of Havelock, Highland, St Paul, St Simon, and St Thomas.
1950-1955: The County Borough of Portsmouth wards of Havelock, Highland, Kingston, St Paul, St Simon, and St Thomas.
1955-1974: The County Borough of Portsmouth wards of Havelock, Highland, Kingston, St Jude, St Simon, and St Thomas.
1974-1983: The County Borough of Portsmouth wards of Buckland, Fratton, Havelock, Highland, Kingston, St Jude, St Simon, and St Thomas.
1983-2010: The City of Portsmouth wards of Charles Dickens, Fratton, Havelock, Highland, Milton, St Jude, and St Thomas.
2010-present: The City of Portsmouth wards of Central Southsea, Charles Dickens, Eastney and Craneswater, Fratton, Milton, St Jude, and St Thomas.
As its name suggests the constituency covers the southern part of the city of Portsmouth in Hampshire, including Fratton, the seaside resort of Southsea and HMNB Portsmouth (Portsmouth Naval Dockyard) within the city bounds. The northern part is represented by Portsmouth North.
History
The constituency was created in 1918 when the larger Portsmouth constituency was split into three divisions: Central, North and South. The Central constituency was abolished in 1950.
In the 2010 general election campaign independent candidate Les Cummings distributed a leaflet claiming that incumbent MP Mike Hancock was a paedophile. This was later proved in court to be false. Cummings was subsequently convicted under the 1983 Representation of the People Act for distributing material which was known to be false with the intention of smearing or defaming to affect the return of a member of parilament. Cummings was fined £500.
Constituency profile
This constituency is marginally less affluent than its neighbour, with in December 2012 slightly higher unemployment, but considerably below the national average of all constituencies in terms of the claimant count. Notwithstanding this following World War II the city has a large proportion of flats, increasingly in a more aesthetic apartment style, some being cheap social housing and brutalist tower blocks; however, the majority of the city is of semi-detached and terraced nature with a mixture of incomes centred around the national average and excellent amenities.