Post by matureleft on Apr 22, 2020 10:37:04 GMT
North West Leicestershire
First established in 1983, the western end formed from part of the former Bosworth seat once held by Woodrow Wyatt when he was a Labour MP. it initially included not just the District of the same name but the two Shepshed wards in Charnwood District. From 1997 it shed these and has since remained coterminous with the District Council area.
David Ashby represented the seat from 1983 to 1997. His unremarkable tenure was enlivened near its end, during the “Back to Basics” period, with a press piece on his sharing a bed with an unnamed man because no twin-bedded rooms were available in the French hotel in which he stayed. He had narrowly held off Labour in 1992 and a replacement Conservative, Robert Goodwill, unsurprisingly, lost heavily, by a 25 per cent margin, to the Labour loser in 1992, local accountant, magistrate and committed Christian David Taylor, in 1997.
Taylor was a Campaign Group supporter and frequent rebel through the Blair years, was nominated for the Backbencher of the Year award in 2005 and won it in 2007. Taylor held the seat with declining, but even in 2005 fairly comfortable majorities almost precisely mirroring the results in South Derbyshire. He died in December 2009. Labour, understandably, delayed the by-election with the seat being filled in 2010. The winner, the Conservative Andrew Bridgen, was a successful local businessman, originally from South Derbyshire but moving his premises over the border as it grew. He took the seat on a 6 per cent swing.
Bridgen has held the seat, with increasing majorities, at every election since then with a majority of 37 per cent in 2019. He is a noisy, partisan backbencher, strongly Leave-inclined and loudly critical of Conservatives deviant from that path. He has a range of opinions that he shares freely, occasionally causing some distress and embarrassment. He has been effective in seeking to stop non-payment of a TV licence being a criminal offence.
In many ways this constituency is similar to its neighbour, South Derbyshire. The coalfield straddles the county boundary, The town of Coalville contained pits (the Snibston colliery is preserved as a museum) with seams stretching toward Moira, where the last local pit shut in 1990. Albert Village, immediately next to Church Gresley in Derbyshire, notorious for opencast mining with a lunar landscape around the village was the butt of many cruel local jokes. As in South Derbyshire the departure of deep mining (some opencast mining continues near Measham) has prompted the arrival of new residents. While growing much less rapidly than South Derbyshire the electorate reached 79,000 in 2019 and some reduction in area is likely at the next review.
At the eastern end of the constituency is Castle Donington, adjacent to both East Midlands Airport and the Donington Park Circuit, used for major motorsport events. The town has been fairly balanced between Labour and Conservative with some extremely tight results. These include the County Council result in the 1990s where the result was overturned under challenge when a ballot favouring the Conservative with a smiley was allowed! The other substantial towns are Ashby de la Zouch (the setting of Walter Scott's Ivanhoe), and Coalville and its adjacent, former mining villages such as Hugglescote and Ibstock. Ashby has tended to lean toward the Conservatives but with Labour victories in good years. Both the Liberal Democrats and Greens have had some district council success there too. Coalville and its surroundings used to be heavily Labour and Measham, adjacent to the A42 leaned Labour. The intervening rural areas are generally strongly Conservative, but particularly in the western end of the constituency around the former coalfield, spotted with smaller mining villages like Donisthorpe and Labour support. However the constituency voted 60 per cent in favour of Leave with reputedly heavy support in some of the traditionally Labour areas. This has affected sympathies, particularly around Coalville and adjacent areas and these are not the Labour bastions they once were.
There are two political differences from its South Derbyshire neighbour. First there has been substantial local activity from both the Lib Dems and Greens (compared to their complete absence over the border). The District Council elections are entirely fought in single-seat wards and produced a narrow Conservative majority in 2019 – 20 Conservative, 10 Labour, 4 Lib Dems, 3 Independents and 1 Green with several close results, and Labour polling well above their subsequent General Election result and the Conservatives well below. Secondly, there is no major city sprawl nor is there the ethnic diversity that has brought in part of the neighbouring seat.
The seat's environment and economy has altered substantially since 1990. The National Forest, launched in 1995, stretches across the seat (and into South Derbyshire and Burton). It had the goal of increasing tree cover in an area denuded by industry, particularly in the former mining areas. This has been largely successful, introducing attractive woodland and providing contexts to attractions. Road communications also improved with the A42/M42 linking the area to the West Midlands. The M1 passes the eastern edge of the seat. The development of East Midlands Airport, adjacent business parks and associated distribution businesses – the airport is a major freight hub – has provided substantial and varied employment.
It is hard to imagine a way back for Labour here, although local election results suggest that there's potential support well above the miserable 25 per cent they managed in the 2019 General Election, and an election less coloured by Brexit would favour them. As in South Derbyshire this is not a wealthy place beyond pockets in some of the rural areas. Its current sympathies aren't “baked in”. However Bridgen's simple messages carry appeal and he is an effective media operator.
First established in 1983, the western end formed from part of the former Bosworth seat once held by Woodrow Wyatt when he was a Labour MP. it initially included not just the District of the same name but the two Shepshed wards in Charnwood District. From 1997 it shed these and has since remained coterminous with the District Council area.
David Ashby represented the seat from 1983 to 1997. His unremarkable tenure was enlivened near its end, during the “Back to Basics” period, with a press piece on his sharing a bed with an unnamed man because no twin-bedded rooms were available in the French hotel in which he stayed. He had narrowly held off Labour in 1992 and a replacement Conservative, Robert Goodwill, unsurprisingly, lost heavily, by a 25 per cent margin, to the Labour loser in 1992, local accountant, magistrate and committed Christian David Taylor, in 1997.
Taylor was a Campaign Group supporter and frequent rebel through the Blair years, was nominated for the Backbencher of the Year award in 2005 and won it in 2007. Taylor held the seat with declining, but even in 2005 fairly comfortable majorities almost precisely mirroring the results in South Derbyshire. He died in December 2009. Labour, understandably, delayed the by-election with the seat being filled in 2010. The winner, the Conservative Andrew Bridgen, was a successful local businessman, originally from South Derbyshire but moving his premises over the border as it grew. He took the seat on a 6 per cent swing.
Bridgen has held the seat, with increasing majorities, at every election since then with a majority of 37 per cent in 2019. He is a noisy, partisan backbencher, strongly Leave-inclined and loudly critical of Conservatives deviant from that path. He has a range of opinions that he shares freely, occasionally causing some distress and embarrassment. He has been effective in seeking to stop non-payment of a TV licence being a criminal offence.
In many ways this constituency is similar to its neighbour, South Derbyshire. The coalfield straddles the county boundary, The town of Coalville contained pits (the Snibston colliery is preserved as a museum) with seams stretching toward Moira, where the last local pit shut in 1990. Albert Village, immediately next to Church Gresley in Derbyshire, notorious for opencast mining with a lunar landscape around the village was the butt of many cruel local jokes. As in South Derbyshire the departure of deep mining (some opencast mining continues near Measham) has prompted the arrival of new residents. While growing much less rapidly than South Derbyshire the electorate reached 79,000 in 2019 and some reduction in area is likely at the next review.
At the eastern end of the constituency is Castle Donington, adjacent to both East Midlands Airport and the Donington Park Circuit, used for major motorsport events. The town has been fairly balanced between Labour and Conservative with some extremely tight results. These include the County Council result in the 1990s where the result was overturned under challenge when a ballot favouring the Conservative with a smiley was allowed! The other substantial towns are Ashby de la Zouch (the setting of Walter Scott's Ivanhoe), and Coalville and its adjacent, former mining villages such as Hugglescote and Ibstock. Ashby has tended to lean toward the Conservatives but with Labour victories in good years. Both the Liberal Democrats and Greens have had some district council success there too. Coalville and its surroundings used to be heavily Labour and Measham, adjacent to the A42 leaned Labour. The intervening rural areas are generally strongly Conservative, but particularly in the western end of the constituency around the former coalfield, spotted with smaller mining villages like Donisthorpe and Labour support. However the constituency voted 60 per cent in favour of Leave with reputedly heavy support in some of the traditionally Labour areas. This has affected sympathies, particularly around Coalville and adjacent areas and these are not the Labour bastions they once were.
There are two political differences from its South Derbyshire neighbour. First there has been substantial local activity from both the Lib Dems and Greens (compared to their complete absence over the border). The District Council elections are entirely fought in single-seat wards and produced a narrow Conservative majority in 2019 – 20 Conservative, 10 Labour, 4 Lib Dems, 3 Independents and 1 Green with several close results, and Labour polling well above their subsequent General Election result and the Conservatives well below. Secondly, there is no major city sprawl nor is there the ethnic diversity that has brought in part of the neighbouring seat.
The seat's environment and economy has altered substantially since 1990. The National Forest, launched in 1995, stretches across the seat (and into South Derbyshire and Burton). It had the goal of increasing tree cover in an area denuded by industry, particularly in the former mining areas. This has been largely successful, introducing attractive woodland and providing contexts to attractions. Road communications also improved with the A42/M42 linking the area to the West Midlands. The M1 passes the eastern edge of the seat. The development of East Midlands Airport, adjacent business parks and associated distribution businesses – the airport is a major freight hub – has provided substantial and varied employment.
It is hard to imagine a way back for Labour here, although local election results suggest that there's potential support well above the miserable 25 per cent they managed in the 2019 General Election, and an election less coloured by Brexit would favour them. As in South Derbyshire this is not a wealthy place beyond pockets in some of the rural areas. Its current sympathies aren't “baked in”. However Bridgen's simple messages carry appeal and he is an effective media operator.
