Bristol East (UK Parliament constituency) explained
Bristol East is a constituency recreated in 1983 covering the eastern part of the City of Bristol, represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2005 by Kerry McCarthy of the Labour Party.
Constituency profile
Bristol East covers St Anne's and Brislington. Since 2023, it has also covered Lawrence Hill.
History
First creation
The seat was first created in 1885. Boundaries were slightly altered in 1918 and Bristol East was abolished in a comprehensive review of the local seats for the 1950 general election.
- Political historyThe most powerful representative of Bristol East in Parliament and H.M. Government was Sir Stafford Cripps, MP (Lab) 1931–1950, who was Chancellor of the Exchequer from 1947 to 1950. The seat shifted from Liberal Party representation through to the Labour Party with the 1918-1923 period seeing a more centrist Liberal splinter group candidate elected.
Second creation
The seat was recreated in 1983 on much larger boundaries than before 1950, reflecting the lower occupation levels of the city centre and allocation of new seats elsewhere to reflect population expansion mainly in former rural and lightly populated suburban areas.
- Political historyThe 1983 election, the first in the recreated East seat, was a landslide victory for Margaret Thatcher's Conservatives following retention of the Falkland Islands in the Falklands War. Bristol East returned a Conservative MP, as Jonathan Sayeed defeated Tony Benn, the outgoing MP for Bristol South East and the leader of a large faction on the left-wing of the Labour Party. In 1992 Labour's Jean Corston gained the seat from Sayeed, which has been retained by Labour candidates at each subsequent general election, the Conservatives coming second, except in 2005, when the Liberal Democrats did so. The 2015 result gave the seat the 42nd-smallest majority of Labour's 232 seats by percentage of majority;[4] however, in 2017, incumbent MP Kerry McCarthy more than tripled her majority, winning the largest share of the vote in the seat's history and by the biggest margin since 1997.
- TurnoutTurnout has ranged between 80.3% in 1992 to 57.4% in 2001.
- Other partiesFive parties' candidates achieved more than the deposit-retaining threshold of 5% of the vote in 2015. Prior to the 2024 election the largest third-party share of the vote had been won by Liberal Democrat candidate Philip James in the 2005 election with 25.2% of the vote. This record was beaten by the Green Party candidate Ani Stafford-Townsend who won 30.7% of the vote, the Green Party’s first second place in the seat since it’s creation.
Boundaries
The constituency covers the eastern part of the city of Bristol, from neighbourhoods of the City Centre to outer neighbourhoods (excluding surrounding settlements in local government administratively).
1885–1918: The Municipal Borough of Bristol ward of South, part of North ward, and the local government district of St George.
1918–1950: The County Borough of Bristol wards of St George East and St George West, and parts of Easton, and Somerset wards.
1983–1997: The City of Bristol wards of Brislington East, Brislington West, Easton, Eastville, Hengrove, Lawrence Hill, and Stockwood.
1997–2010: The City of Bristol wards of Brislington East, Brislington West, Easton, Eastville, Lawrence Hill, St George East, St George West, and Stockwood.
2010–2024: The City of Bristol wards of Brislington East, Brislington West, Eastville, Frome Vale, Hillfields, St George East, St George West, and Stockwood.
2024–present: The City of Bristol wards of: Brislington East; Brislington West; Easton; Knowle; Lawrence Hill; St. George Central; St. George Troopers Hill; St. George West; and Stockwood.[5]
Major boundary changes involving the gain of areas including Easton and Lawrence Hill from Bristol West and Knowle from Bristol South.[6] These gains will be offset by the losses of Eastville, Frome Vale and Hillfields which will move into the re-established Bristol North East constituency.[7]
Members of Parliament
MPs 1885–1950
MPs 1983–present
Elections
Elections in the 2010s
2019 notional result[10] |
---|
Party | Vote | % |
---|
| | 32,280 | 58.4 |
| | 12,887 | 23.3 |
| | 4,664 | 8.4 |
| | 3,840 | 6.9 |
| | 1,615 | 2.9 |
|
Turnout | 55,286 | 72.8 |
Electorate | 75,936 | |
Elections in the 1930s
[11]
Elections in the 1910s
Election results 1885-1918
Elections in the 1910s
General Election 1914–15:Another General Election was required to take place before the end of 1915. The political parties had been making preparations for an election to take place and by July 1914, the following candidates had been selected;
Elections in the 1880s
See also
Sources
- British Parliamentary Election Results 1885–1918, compiled and edited by F.W.S. Craig (The Macmillan Press 1974)
External links
Notes and References
- Web site: 'Bristol East', June 1983 up to May 1997. ElectionWeb Project. Cognitive Computing Limited. 10 March 2016. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20160311071342/http://electionweb.co.uk/Bp/P83095.htm. 11 March 2016.
- Web site: Bristol East: Usual Resident Population, 2011 . Neighbourhood Statistics . Office for National Statistics . 3 February 2015 . 4 February 2015 . https://web.archive.org/web/20150204005914/http://neighbourhood.statistics.gov.uk/dissemination/LeadTableView.do?a=7&b=6507775&c=&d=27&e=62&g=6430187&i=1001x1003x1032x1004&o=362&m=0&r=1&s=1422104706393&enc=1&dsFamilyId=2473 . live .
- Web site: The 2023 Review of Parliamentary Constituency Boundaries in England – Volume two: Constituency names, designations and composition – South West . Boundary Commission for England . 27 June 2024 . dmy .
- Web site: Labour Members of Parliament 2015 . UK Political.info . 2018-09-29 . https://web.archive.org/web/20180929214847/http://www.ukpolitical.info/labour-mps-elected-2015.htm . live.
- Web site: The Parliamentary Constituencies Order 2023 . Schedule 1 Part 7 South West region.
- Web site: New Seat Details - Bristol East . 2024-02-21 . www.electoralcalculus.co.uk.
- Web site: South West Boundary Commission for England . 2023-06-20 . boundarycommissionforengland.independent.gov.uk.
- Web site: Bristol East 1885-1950. Parliamentary Debates (Hansard). 2 February 2015. 16 November 2014. https://web.archive.org/web/20141116201935/http://hansard.millbanksystems.com/constituencies/bristol-east. live.
- Web site: Bristol East 1983-. Parliamentary Debates (Hansard). 2 February 2015. 16 January 2016. https://web.archive.org/web/20160116045038/http://hansard.millbanksystems.com/constituencies/bristol-east-1. live.
- Web site: Notional results for a UK general election on 12 December 2019 . 11 July 2024 . Rallings & Thrasher, Professor David Denver (Scotland), Nicholas Whyte (NI) for Sky News, PA, BBC News and ITV News . UK Parliament.
- Cooke, Colin (1957) The Life of Richard Stafford Cripps, p.119
- Standard 21 June 1913