County Essex Created 1885 | Electorate 77,109 (December 2010) Number of members One | |
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Major settlements Saffron Walden, Great Dunmow, Halstead Member of parliament Alan Haselhurst (Conservative) | ||
Saffron Walden is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 1977 by Alan Haselhurst, a Conservative.
Contents
Boundaries
1885-1918: The Municipal Borough of Saffron Walden, the Sessional Divisions of Freshwell, Hinckford North, and Walden, part of the Sessional Division of Hinckford South (Halstead Bench), the part of the Municipal Borough of Sudbury in the county of Essex, and the civil parish of Thaxted.
1918-1950: The Municipal Borough of Saffron Walden, the Urban District of Halstead, and the Rural Districts of Belchamp, Bumpstead, Dunmow, Halstead, Saffron Walden, and Stansted.
1950-1974: The Municipal Borough of Saffron Walden, the Urban District of Halstead, the Rural Districts of Dunmow, Halstead, and Saffron Walden, and in the Rural District of Braintree the civil parishes of Bardfield Saling and Great Bardfield.
1974-1983: The Municipal Borough of Saffron Walden, the Urban District of Halstead, and the Rural Districts of Dunmow, Halstead, and Saffron Walden.
1983-1997: The District of Uttlesford, and the District of Braintree wards of Bumpstead, Castle Hedingham, Colne Engaine and Greenstead Green, Earls Colne, Gosfield, Halstead St Andrews, Halstead Trinity, Sible Hedingham, Stour Valley Central, Stour Valley North, Stour Valley South, Upper Colne, and Yeldham.
1997-2010: The District of Uttlesford, and the District of Braintree wards of Bumpstead, Castle Hedingham, Colne Engaine and Greenstead Green, Halstead St Andrews, Halstead Trinity, Sible Hedingham, Stour Valley Central, Stour Valley North, Stour Valley South, Upper Colne, and Yeldham.
2010-present: The District of Uttlesford, and the Borough of Chelmsford wards of Boreham and The Leighs, Broomfield and The Walthams, Chelmsford Rural West, and Writtle.
The 2010 redistribution removed the area around Halstead in Braintree district from the constituency and replaced it with the northern wards of the Borough of Chelmsford.
History
This constituency was created on slightly different, larger boundaries under the Redistribution of Seats Act 1885. Aside from the towns much of the area is rural farmland and small villages.
This has been a Conservative safe seat based on election results since 1922, in which period the majorities have not been marginal.
Constituency profile
The constituency is by far the largest and most rural in Essex, and covers the entire north-west corner of the county - an area of almost 400 square miles (1,000 km2). It borders Hertfordshire and Cambridgeshire, whilst also extending deep into the middle of Essex near Chelmsford.
Three medium-sized market towns, Saffron Walden, Dunmow and Halstead are in the constituency. All three have historic links, and are busy and regionally visitor-drawing towns in the South East.
The largest single source of employment in the constituency is Stansted Airport, while there are also a host of small businesses, many of them high-tech along and at the ends of the London-Cambridge corridor.
The constituency consists of Census Output Areas of two local government districts with similar characteristics, taking that forming the bulk (i.e. Uttlesford) shows: a working population whose income is close to the national average and much lower than average reliance upon social housing. At the end of 2012 the unemployment rate in the constituency stood as 1.6% of the population claiming jobseekers allowance, compared to the regional average of 2.4%. The borough contributing to the bulk of the seat has a very low 10.1% of its population without a car, 17.7% of the population without qualifications and a high 31.9% had level 4 qualifications or above. In terms of tenure 71.6% of homes are owned outright or on a mortgage as at the 2011 census across the Uttlesford district.
Members of Parliament
Since a by-election in 1977, this safe Conservative seat has been represented by Sir Alan Haselhurst. It was also held for many years by former Chancellor of the Exchequer Rab Butler.
Elections in the 1930s
General Election 1939/40: Another General Election was required to take place before the end of 1940. The political parties had been making preparations for an election to take place from 1939 and by the end of this year, the following candidates had been selected;