Number of members 1 | Electorate 73,978 (December 2010) European Parliament constituency West Midlands Major settlement Shrewsbury Replaced by Shrewsbury | |
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Shrewsbury and Atcham is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2005 by Daniel Kawczynski, a Conservative.
Contents
Geography
The constituency lies at the centre of Shropshire, a large inland county of England, bordering Wales.
The constituency was established in 1983, replacing the Shrewsbury constituency, although this change was only in name not in its boundaries.
Component settlements and landscape
At its heart lies the town of Shrewsbury (population 70,000), which is the county town of Shropshire. It is otherwise a rural constituency. Villages such as Bayston Hill, Ford, Dorrington, Condover, Minsterley, Pontesbury, Bomere Heath, Wroxeter and Atcham are included. Its southern edge is the northern side of the Shropshire Hills AONB. The landscape of the constituency features many small rivers which drain the fields and coppices into the upper plain of the River Severn, cutting straight through the area. The main roads through the area are the A5 and A49.
Local government
The constituency is coextensive with that of the Central area of Shropshire Council (the same area as the former Shrewsbury and Atcham borough, which the constituency was originally named after).
Proposed constituency changes
Under constituency boundary proposals announced in September 2016 ahead of the next general election, the seat will take from the Ludlow constituency the wards of Chirbury and Worthen. The constituency would also simply be titled Shrewsbury, dropping the "and Atcham" in reflection of the abolition in 2009 of the Shrewsbury and Atcham Borough Council.
History
On 10 December 2001, following his demand for a parliamentary debate before military intervention in Afghanistan, the incumbent Labour member, Paul Marsden, left the government's benches and remained with the Liberal Democrats until 5 April 2005 when he sought to show strong solidarity with Labour stop the war MPs by returning to his old party, the first politician to cross the floor twice since Winston Churchill. During much of his time with the Liberal Democrats, Marsden was a senior health spokesman, shadowing the Secretary of State for Health and ministers.
Shrewsbury and Atcham is the only British constituency to be profiled on the "Better Know a District" segment of the American television show The Colbert Report.