County Surrey Created 1295, 1885 | Electorate 72,043 (December 2010) European Parliament constituency South East England | |
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Major settlements Reigate, Redhill and Banstead Member of parliament Crispin Blunt (Conservative) | ||
Reigate /ˈraɪɡeɪt/ is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 1997 by Crispin Blunt of the Conservative Party.
Contents
Boundaries
1885-1918: The Municipal Borough of Reigate, the Sessional Division of Reigate, and parts of the Sessional Divisions of Dorking and Godstone.
1918-1950: The Municipal Borough of Reigate, the Urban District of Dorking, and the Rural Districts of Dorking and Reigate.
1950-1974: The Municipal Borough of Reigate, and the Rural District of Godstone.
1974-1983: The Municipal Borough of Reigate, and the Urban District of Banstead.
1983-1997: The Borough of Reigate and Banstead wards of Chipstead Hooley and Woodmansterne, Horley East, Horley West, Kingswood with Burgh Heath, Reigate Central, Reigate East, Reigate North, Reigate North Central, Reigate North East, Reigate South Central, Reigate South East, Reigate South West, Salfords and Sidlow, and Tadworth and Walton.
1997-2010: The Borough of Reigate and Banstead wards of Banstead Village, Chipstead Hooley and Woodmansterne, Kingswood with Burgh Heath, Reigate Central, Reigate East, Reigate North, Reigate North Central, Reigate North East, Reigate South Central, Reigate South East, Reigate South West, Salfords and Sidlow, and Tadworth and Walton.
2010-present: The Borough of Reigate and Banstead wards of Banstead Village, Chipstead Hooley and Woodmansterne, Earlswood and Whitebushes, Kingswood with Burgh Heath, Meadvale and St John’s, Merstham, Preston, Redhill East, Redhill West, Reigate Central, Reigate Hill, Salfords and Sidlow, South Park and Woodhatch, and Tadworth and Walton.
The constituency is in Surrey bordering Greater London and is centered on the town of Reigate from which it takes its name. As shown by the map the constituency excludes most of the post town of Horley in the East Surrey seat and parts of Walton-on-the-Hill in the Epsom and Ewell seat but contains the remainder of the Reigate and Banstead district.
History
This constituency was first created with the first election of Burgesses to Parliament in 1295, electing two members. It continued to elect two members until 1832 when its representation was reduced to one member by the Great Reform Act.
In 1868 the constituency was disenfranchised for corruption, but was revived in 1885 by the Redistribution of Seats Act 1885 when the East Surrey constituency was abolished. Since 1918 the seat has been held by a candidate in the Conservative Party with the exception of four months during which the anti-EU MP in 1997 before the election of that year joined the Referendum Party (UK). The Liberal Democrats including their two predecessor parties amassed their largest share of the vote in 2010. The largest opposition party has changed to the Liberal Democrats since the 2005 election.
In 1974, the seat saw major boundary changes which removed some of Eastern Surrey which was in the seat into the radically redesigned East Surrey seat and added the Banstead area to the seat. One of the three Green local councillors stood as the Green Party candidate for the first time the party has stood in 23 years at the 2010 general election.
MPs 1832–1868
MPs since 1885
Elections in the 1990s
This constituency underwent boundary changes between the 1992 and 1997 general elections and thus change in share of vote is based on a notional calculation. George Gardiner changed party from the Conservative Party to the Referendum following his deselection by the local Conservative association.
Elections in the 1910s
General Election 1914/15:
Another General Election was required to take place before the end of 1915. The political parties had been making preparations for an election to take place and by the July 1914, the following candidates had been selected;