County Cornwall European Parliament constituency South West England Number of members 1 Major settlements St Austell, Newquay | Electorate 75,974 (December 2010) Member of parliament Steve Double Party Conservative Party | |
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Replaced by North Cornwall, South East Cornwall, Truro and St Austell Created from North Cornwall, South East Cornwall, Truro and St Austell | ||
St Austell and Newquay is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2015 by Steve Double, a Conservative.
Contents
History
The seat on creation in 2010 had, based on complex forecasts involving its three constitutive seats, factoring in to different degrees the recent local election results, a widely varying notional Liberal Democrat majority (see results below). In analysis, one forecast suggested that the seat would prove to be a safe seat whereas another suggested an extremely marginal seat. The majority achieved was lower than an average of the two forecasts but by no means the most slender of majorities achieved in that election.
In 2010, the Labour Party candidate polled in line with results of the recent decades in the forerunner seats, with 7.2% of the vote. Mebyon Kernow, the Cornish independence party, achieved its highest share of the vote in any constituency but narrowly lost its deposit by not reaching the 5% threshold.
The seat was won by a Conservative on a majority of more than 15% which would rarely be termed marginal, however approximately half the electorate of the seat fell within areas represented by a Liberal or Liberal Democrat MP between October 1974 and 2015 - Truro (later adopting a suffix- and St Austell). In terms of the important consideration of length of tenure the seat fails to be describable as in any analysis "safe".
Boundaries
The Borough of Restormel wards of Bethel, Crinnis, Edgcumbe North, Edgcumbe South, Fowey and Tywardreath, Gannel, Gover, Mevagissey, Mount Charles, Poltair, Rialton, Rock, St Blaise, St Columb, St Enoder, St Ewe, St Stephen, and Treverbyn.
The constituency was created for the 2010 general election, following a review of parliamentary representation by the Boundary Commission, which increased the number of seats in the county from five to six. It has the same boundaries as the former Borough of Restormel, with the exception of the ward of Lostwithiel, which remains in the South East Cornwall constituency. Previously, the historic area was divided between the North Cornwall, South East Cornwall and Truro and St Austell seats.
Constituency profile
Workless claimants (registered jobseekers) were in November 2012 higher than the national average of 3.8%, at 4.2% of the population based on a statistical compilation by The Guardian.
Notional election result
The official Rallings & Thrasher notional results for the 2005 election gave the Liberal Democrats a notional majority of 5,723 votes (12.44%).
The alternative UKPollingReport estimates gave a much smaller notional Liberal Democrat majority of 630 in 2005.