County Worcestershire Number of members One Type of constituency County constituency Member of parliament Harriett Baldwin | Electorate 73,001 (December 2010) Number of members Two European Parliament constituency West Midlands | |
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Replaced by Worcestershire, South Worcestershire, Leominster Created from Worcestershire, South Worcestershire, Leominster | ||
West Worcestershire is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2010 by Harriett Baldwin, a Conservative.
Contents
Boundaries
1997-2010: The District of Malvern Hills wards of Baldwin, Broadheath, Chase, Hallow, Kempsey, Langland, Laugherne Hill, Leigh and Bransford, Link, Longdon, Martley, Morton, Powick, Priory, Ripple, Temeside, The Hanleys, Trinity, Upton-on-Severn, Wells, West, and Woodbury, and the District of Wychavon wards of Bredon, Eckington, Elmley Castle, Pershore Holy Cross, Pershore St Andrew's, Somerville, and South Bredon Hill.
2010-present: The District of Malvern Hills, and the District of Wychavon wards of Bredon, Eckington, Elmley Castle and Somerville, Pershore, and South Bredon Hill.
West Worcestershire stretches from the Gloucestershire border in the south almost to Shropshire in the north, taking in Pershore and Bredon Hill in its eastern side. Its other major towns are Malvern in the west and Upton-upon-Severn in the centre.
Boundary changes for 2010, the fifth modern review nationwide, added an area including Tenbury Wells to the seat (formerly in the Leominster constituency) and lost the small shared part of the Fladbury ward to the Mid Worcestershire seat.
1832-1885
West Worcestershire formally, the Western division of Worcestershire, was created the first time for the 1832 general election, by the Reform Act 1832 which radically changed the boundaries of many British parliamentary constituencies. It was created by the division of the old Worcestershire constituency (which had existed since 1290) into two new two-member constituencies: West Worcestershire and East Worcestershire.
During this first creation, three members of the Lygon family, the Earls Beauchamp (pronounced Beecham) represented the constituency - their large country estate in the county had its seat at Madresfield Court near the heart of Madresfield village.
The constituency then existed, basically unchanged, until its abolition by the Redistribution of Seats Act 1885 for the 1885 general election, when the constituency's territory was variously incorporated into the seats of Bewdley, Droitwich, Evesham, East Worcestershire and North Worcestershire.
1997–date
The seat was created on Parliament's approval for the 1997 general election of the Boundary Commission's fourth periodic review (following the first such review in 1945, which in turn followed that of the Representation of the People Act 1918.
In the four elections to date the seat has alternated between Conservative majorities that were quite marginal (7.8% and 5.3%) and those that were greater than 10%, at 12% and 12.7%, close to average in terms of security for any of the three largest parties. As never having had a majority that exceeded 15% of the vote (in this modern creation) and having had the two marginal majorities to date, the seat cannot be classified as safe.
The modern seat has had no notable frontbenchers but a notable parliamentarian in the backbenches. The MP for the seat from 1997 to 2010 was Sir Michael Spicer of the Conservative Party. He previously represented the former seat of Worcestershire South from 1974, and was chairman of the backbench 1922 Committee from 2001 until 2010 when he retired.
Constituency profile
The seat is known nationally for its hilly landscape, with products such as regional speciality cheeses, drinks and mineral water, a major economic sector is tourism and leisure, however the principal industries are in agriculture/food, chemicals, distribution, waste and mineral processing, printing and publishing, transport and retail.
Workless claimants who were registered jobseekers were in November 2012 significantly lower than the national average of 3.8%, at 2.1% of the population based on a statistical compilation by The Guardian.