County Worcestershire Member of parliament Robin Walker Electorate 73,960 (December 2010) | Created 1295 European Parliament constituency West Midlands | |
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Number of members 1885–present: One; 1295–1885: Two | ||
Worcester is a borough constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Since 1885 it has elected one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first past the post system of election; from 1295 to 1885 it elected two MPs.
Contents
Boundaries
1918-1950: The County Borough of Worcester.
1950-1983: The County Borough of Worcester, the Municipal Borough of Droitwich, and the Rural District of Droitwich.
1983-1997: The City of Worcester, and the District of Wychavon wards of Drakes Broughton, Inkberrow, Lenches, Pinvin, Spetchley, and Upton Snodsbury.
1997-present: The City of Worcester.
The constituency covers the city of Worcester, with exactly the same boundaries as the city. It borders the Mid Worcestershire constituency to the east, and West Worcestershire to the west.
History
A Conservative seat for many years, Worcester was represented by the high-profile Conservative cabinet minister Peter Walker for three decades, from a by-election in 1961 until he stood down in 1992. Peter Luff (also Conservative) held the seat until 1997, when he moved to the redrawn Mid Worcestershire constituency.
Michael Foster of the Labour Party took the seat in the 1997 general election. This can be put down to a combination of Labour's landslide victory nationally, but also to the fact that boundary changes meant the constituency was now solely an urban area, rather than also containing much of the surrounding countryside.
Peter Walker's son, Robin Walker, was elected as the Conservative MP in 2010.
The constituency is marginal and was selected as a "target" by the Labour Party in 1997 and by the Conservative Party in 2010.
Many political commentators and journalists look on Worcester as having the demographic statistics which most closely mirror those in the United Kingdom as a whole. As such the term "Worcester woman" has come into use as a description for a typical swing voter.
Members of Parliament
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;