Post by greenhert on Apr 28, 2020 21:02:51 GMT
The constituency of North Cornwall has existed since 1918, and although its boundaries have changed three times Launceston, Wadebridge and Bude have always been in its boundaries. The most significant boundary change came in 1983 when Bodmin, Cornwall's county town in the 19th and early 20th centuries (today it is the city of Truro; formerly it was Launceston) was moved from the eponymous constituency of Bodmin, renamed South East Cornwall that year.
Bodmin, associated with the famous Bodmin Moor, was notable as the site of two notable Cornish rebellions during Tudor times. The most famous was Michael An Gof's rebellion of 1497 when an army of Cornishmen reached Blackheath before being defeated by a 25,000 strong army led by Baron Daubney in defence of King Henry VII. There was also the Prayer Book Rebellion of 1549, when Edward VI (via the Duke of Somerset, Edward Seymour) imposed a Prayer Book on an area then known for strong Catholic loyalty and which had been hit particularly hard by earlier taxes. Bodmin is today known for historic sites and an unusually large Mason lodge. Bude is a famous seaside resort and is (or was) set to host Cornwall's answer to the Eisteddford, the Gorsedh Kernow, this year. Wadebridge is an old fishing port with ambitions to become the first town in the UK powered only by renewable energy sources. Launceston was home to the first castle in Cornwall and contains the only small-scale full-range textile mill in the UK, the Natural Fibres Company. Of the towns in North Cornwall, only Bodmin has a population exceeding 10,000 people. North Cornwall's qualification levels are somewhat below average and it is 98.4% white although other demographics are relatively average.
North Cornwall is usually a Conservative-Liberal (Democrat) marginal, and the constituency has changed hands between those two parties as many as seven times since its creation. Notable MPs for this constituency include Sir Francis Dyke Acland, Bt., Tom Horabin, who defected to Labour in 1947 and stood for Labour in Exeter in 1950, James Scott-Hopkins, who served as a Conservative MEP for 15 years after he retired from West Derbyshire (where he was elected in 1967 after losing this seat in 1966), and John Pardoe, Deputy Leader of the Liberals under Jeremy Thorpe. The current MP is Scott Mann, who won the seat in 2015 from the Liberal Democrats' Dan Rogerson on a 10% swing. The old Cornish liberal tradition is fading away and in 2019, following Mr Rogerson's departure from the parliamentary scene here, the Liberal Democrats dropped to 30.8%, their lowest ever vote share in this constituency, and the Conservative majority shot up to 14,572. This is the only constituency in England where Labour has never finished higher than third and it usually had the weakest Labour vote in the country-Labour lost their deposit continuously in this seat from 1955 to 1983 inclusive and again did so in 2010. It also featured their joint-lowest Labour vote in England (and fifth lowest in the UK) in 2015 (5.4%), and in both 2010 and 2015 Labour finished fourth. At a local level, there is consistent Liberal Democrat support in Bodmin and Launceston dating back to the 1980s when they won those seats from Independents; consistent support for any one political party is rare in any Cornish town. Wadebridge and the rural parts of the constituency are much more marginal by comparison. In 1977, the village of Helland, which has been within the boundaries of North Cornwall since that constituency's creation,elected the very first Ecology (Green) Party county councillor.
Bodmin, associated with the famous Bodmin Moor, was notable as the site of two notable Cornish rebellions during Tudor times. The most famous was Michael An Gof's rebellion of 1497 when an army of Cornishmen reached Blackheath before being defeated by a 25,000 strong army led by Baron Daubney in defence of King Henry VII. There was also the Prayer Book Rebellion of 1549, when Edward VI (via the Duke of Somerset, Edward Seymour) imposed a Prayer Book on an area then known for strong Catholic loyalty and which had been hit particularly hard by earlier taxes. Bodmin is today known for historic sites and an unusually large Mason lodge. Bude is a famous seaside resort and is (or was) set to host Cornwall's answer to the Eisteddford, the Gorsedh Kernow, this year. Wadebridge is an old fishing port with ambitions to become the first town in the UK powered only by renewable energy sources. Launceston was home to the first castle in Cornwall and contains the only small-scale full-range textile mill in the UK, the Natural Fibres Company. Of the towns in North Cornwall, only Bodmin has a population exceeding 10,000 people. North Cornwall's qualification levels are somewhat below average and it is 98.4% white although other demographics are relatively average.
North Cornwall is usually a Conservative-Liberal (Democrat) marginal, and the constituency has changed hands between those two parties as many as seven times since its creation. Notable MPs for this constituency include Sir Francis Dyke Acland, Bt., Tom Horabin, who defected to Labour in 1947 and stood for Labour in Exeter in 1950, James Scott-Hopkins, who served as a Conservative MEP for 15 years after he retired from West Derbyshire (where he was elected in 1967 after losing this seat in 1966), and John Pardoe, Deputy Leader of the Liberals under Jeremy Thorpe. The current MP is Scott Mann, who won the seat in 2015 from the Liberal Democrats' Dan Rogerson on a 10% swing. The old Cornish liberal tradition is fading away and in 2019, following Mr Rogerson's departure from the parliamentary scene here, the Liberal Democrats dropped to 30.8%, their lowest ever vote share in this constituency, and the Conservative majority shot up to 14,572. This is the only constituency in England where Labour has never finished higher than third and it usually had the weakest Labour vote in the country-Labour lost their deposit continuously in this seat from 1955 to 1983 inclusive and again did so in 2010. It also featured their joint-lowest Labour vote in England (and fifth lowest in the UK) in 2015 (5.4%), and in both 2010 and 2015 Labour finished fourth. At a local level, there is consistent Liberal Democrat support in Bodmin and Launceston dating back to the 1980s when they won those seats from Independents; consistent support for any one political party is rare in any Cornish town. Wadebridge and the rural parts of the constituency are much more marginal by comparison. In 1977, the village of Helland, which has been within the boundaries of North Cornwall since that constituency's creation,elected the very first Ecology (Green) Party county councillor.
