Post by greenhert on Apr 24, 2020 19:13:07 GMT
Camborne & Redruth was created in 2010, mainly from the Falmouth & Camborne constituency but also the eastern edge of the St Ives constituency, although it is almost coterminous with the Camborne constituency of 1885-1950. It mostly shares its boundaries with the now defunct Kerrier district of Cornwall.
Camborne used to be the hub of the Cornish tin mining industry, with the last tin mine at South Crofty closing in 1998. Because of the importance of tin mining to Camborne and Cornwall as a whole, the Cornwall School of Mines was opened there and dedicated itself to advanced mining; it now forms part of the Penryn Campus of the University of Exeter. Redruth contains the Cornish Studies Centre, dedicated to the Cornish language and Cornish history, and was an important copper mining centre given the importance of brass in the Industrial Revolution. The town of Hayle was once a key engineering centre, supplying bromine for aircraft fuel and explosives for military aircraft, although most engineering facilities there have long since gone. Camborne & Redruth's qualification levels are only slightly below average and its demographics are mostly average although there is a considerable amount of council housing remaining.
Camborne switched between the Liberals and Conservatives frequently, and the Conservatives only held on in 1945 due to split opposition between the Liberals and Labour. The Conservative MP in question, Peter Agnew, was one of only a handful of Conservative MPs defeated in 1950 when Labour's Harold Hayman unseated him in Falmouth & Camborne. Mr Hayman represented the seat for the next 16 years until his death in 1966, to be succeeded by John Dunwoody whose wife Gwyneth was elected in Exeter the same year. Both lost their seats in 1970 and they divorced in 1975, one year after Mrs Dunwoody returned to Parliament via Crewe. David Mudd represented Falmouth & Camborne for the Conservatives from 1970-92 and athelete Sebastian Coe held on in 1992 against a strong Liberal Democrat challenge from Terrye Jones, later Terrye Teverson upon her marriage to former MEP Robin Teverson. Mr Coe as he was then only lasted five years before his defeat by Labour's Candy Atherton, whose selection was controversial because of the imposition of the All-Women Shortlist, leading to local councillor John Geach standing against her as an Independent in protest; he only polled 1,691 votes (3.2%). The Liberal Democrats did eventually catch up after this setback and Julia Goldsworthy defeated Ms Atherton in 2005, making her the first Liberal/Liberal Democrat MP in Camborne since 1929. It also meant that from 2005-10, Cornwall was the only county represented entirely by Liberal Democrat MPs. Ms Goldsworthy was surprisingly defeated in 2010 in Camborne & Redruth, losing by only 66 votes to this seat's current Conservative MP, George Eustice, even though her vote share notionally increased by 1.6%, mainly due to traditional Labour voters not willing to vote for her tactically. In 2015, Ms Goldsworthy stood her again but dropped to 4th place and just 12.4% of the vote, and Labour regained second place with ease. Labour reduced Mr Eustice's majority to just 1,577 in 2017 but in a traditionally working-class seat with a higher than average Brexit vote, it was no surprise that there was a swing of 7% from Labour to Conservative in 2019. There is a strong Independent tradition at local level although the Conservatives made significant inroads into Camborne town in 2017.
Camborne used to be the hub of the Cornish tin mining industry, with the last tin mine at South Crofty closing in 1998. Because of the importance of tin mining to Camborne and Cornwall as a whole, the Cornwall School of Mines was opened there and dedicated itself to advanced mining; it now forms part of the Penryn Campus of the University of Exeter. Redruth contains the Cornish Studies Centre, dedicated to the Cornish language and Cornish history, and was an important copper mining centre given the importance of brass in the Industrial Revolution. The town of Hayle was once a key engineering centre, supplying bromine for aircraft fuel and explosives for military aircraft, although most engineering facilities there have long since gone. Camborne & Redruth's qualification levels are only slightly below average and its demographics are mostly average although there is a considerable amount of council housing remaining.
Camborne switched between the Liberals and Conservatives frequently, and the Conservatives only held on in 1945 due to split opposition between the Liberals and Labour. The Conservative MP in question, Peter Agnew, was one of only a handful of Conservative MPs defeated in 1950 when Labour's Harold Hayman unseated him in Falmouth & Camborne. Mr Hayman represented the seat for the next 16 years until his death in 1966, to be succeeded by John Dunwoody whose wife Gwyneth was elected in Exeter the same year. Both lost their seats in 1970 and they divorced in 1975, one year after Mrs Dunwoody returned to Parliament via Crewe. David Mudd represented Falmouth & Camborne for the Conservatives from 1970-92 and athelete Sebastian Coe held on in 1992 against a strong Liberal Democrat challenge from Terrye Jones, later Terrye Teverson upon her marriage to former MEP Robin Teverson. Mr Coe as he was then only lasted five years before his defeat by Labour's Candy Atherton, whose selection was controversial because of the imposition of the All-Women Shortlist, leading to local councillor John Geach standing against her as an Independent in protest; he only polled 1,691 votes (3.2%). The Liberal Democrats did eventually catch up after this setback and Julia Goldsworthy defeated Ms Atherton in 2005, making her the first Liberal/Liberal Democrat MP in Camborne since 1929. It also meant that from 2005-10, Cornwall was the only county represented entirely by Liberal Democrat MPs. Ms Goldsworthy was surprisingly defeated in 2010 in Camborne & Redruth, losing by only 66 votes to this seat's current Conservative MP, George Eustice, even though her vote share notionally increased by 1.6%, mainly due to traditional Labour voters not willing to vote for her tactically. In 2015, Ms Goldsworthy stood her again but dropped to 4th place and just 12.4% of the vote, and Labour regained second place with ease. Labour reduced Mr Eustice's majority to just 1,577 in 2017 but in a traditionally working-class seat with a higher than average Brexit vote, it was no surprise that there was a swing of 7% from Labour to Conservative in 2019. There is a strong Independent tradition at local level although the Conservatives made significant inroads into Camborne town in 2017.
