Post by greenhert on May 3, 2020 20:25:12 GMT
South Suffolk was created in 1983 from the Sudbury part of the former Sudbury & Woodbridge constituency, and resembles the Sudbury constituency of 1918-50. It comprises the whole of Babergh District Council plus the area surrounding the village of Clare from West Suffolk (formerly in St Edmundsbury before that council was merged with Forest Heath last year).
South Suffolk covers the south of Suffolk and its most prominent settlements are the town of Sudbury and the old wool town of Lavenham. Sudbury was famous for textile weaving before the Industrial Revolution and was the birthplace of several famous British artists, notably John Constable and Thomas Gainsborough. The ancient market town of Hadleigh nearby was home to Wat Tyler, one of the leaders of the Peasants' Revolt of 1381. Many of its historic buildings were preserved through the process of pargeting, whereby waterproof plastering was applied to building walls. The village of Great Cornard is essentially a satellite of Sudbury, as is Little Cornard. Lavenham grew to be one of the richest towns in Britain from the wool trade, and one of the families who benefitted from this trade, the Springs, later became influential in British and Irish politics up until the early 21st century, with Dick Spring becoming Tanaiste from 1997 to 1999 and Richard Spring (now Lord Risby) becoming a Conservative MP in Suffolk for 18 years. Lavenham's market square still serves as a popular location for rural films. South Suffolk is relatively average in terms of qualification levels but has a high proportion of owner-occupiers, 72%, and 40% are outright owner-occupiers. Like most of East Anglia, South Suffolk is mostly white (97.9% on 2011 census statistics) with an ageing population.
South Suffolk has been Conservative since its creation in 1983, but not always safely so, and it and its predecessor constituencies have their fair share of interesting political history. In 1841 in the old constituency of Sudbury, David Ochterlony Dyce Sombre became the first ever British MP from an ethnic minority; however, he was subsequently declared insane and he lost his seat in Parliament in 1842. The said Sudbury constituency was won by Labour in 1945 only to be abolished in 1950 when it was merged with Woodbridge to become Sudbury & Woodbridge. John Hare, the first Conservative MP for Sudbury & Woodbridge, became the father-in-law of US Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer and in the final year of his life became Treasurer of the Royal Horticultural Society, fitting for an MP representing a large rural constituency in East Anglia. A 1963 by-election caused by Mr Hare being elevated to the peerage as Viscount Blakenham (a title currently held by his grandson Caspar) saw Keith Stainton become its MP. Mr Stainton became critical of Margaret Thatcher's policy of deflation in 1980 and as an indirect result failed to be selected in the new South Suffolk constituency, losing to Tim Yeo. Mr Yeo gained notoriety during John Major's "Back to Basics" campaign in 1993 when he was found to have fathered a love child with Conservative councillor Julia Stent whilst Minister for the Environment; Mr Yeo subsequently resigned his post. He held on in 1997 and 2001 mainly due to split opposition between Labour and the Liberal Democrats. He held the seat until 2015 when he was deselected by the local Conservative Association in favour of James Cartlidge, this seat's current MP, and it has reverted to being a very safe Conservative seat with the collapse of the Liberal Democrat challenge. Locally, Babergh is usually Conservative overall although Independents often keep them in check, and recently the Green Party has been acquiring a strong base in the rural parts of this seat; only in Sudbury is there enough Labour support to reliably elect any Labour councillors.
South Suffolk covers the south of Suffolk and its most prominent settlements are the town of Sudbury and the old wool town of Lavenham. Sudbury was famous for textile weaving before the Industrial Revolution and was the birthplace of several famous British artists, notably John Constable and Thomas Gainsborough. The ancient market town of Hadleigh nearby was home to Wat Tyler, one of the leaders of the Peasants' Revolt of 1381. Many of its historic buildings were preserved through the process of pargeting, whereby waterproof plastering was applied to building walls. The village of Great Cornard is essentially a satellite of Sudbury, as is Little Cornard. Lavenham grew to be one of the richest towns in Britain from the wool trade, and one of the families who benefitted from this trade, the Springs, later became influential in British and Irish politics up until the early 21st century, with Dick Spring becoming Tanaiste from 1997 to 1999 and Richard Spring (now Lord Risby) becoming a Conservative MP in Suffolk for 18 years. Lavenham's market square still serves as a popular location for rural films. South Suffolk is relatively average in terms of qualification levels but has a high proportion of owner-occupiers, 72%, and 40% are outright owner-occupiers. Like most of East Anglia, South Suffolk is mostly white (97.9% on 2011 census statistics) with an ageing population.
South Suffolk has been Conservative since its creation in 1983, but not always safely so, and it and its predecessor constituencies have their fair share of interesting political history. In 1841 in the old constituency of Sudbury, David Ochterlony Dyce Sombre became the first ever British MP from an ethnic minority; however, he was subsequently declared insane and he lost his seat in Parliament in 1842. The said Sudbury constituency was won by Labour in 1945 only to be abolished in 1950 when it was merged with Woodbridge to become Sudbury & Woodbridge. John Hare, the first Conservative MP for Sudbury & Woodbridge, became the father-in-law of US Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer and in the final year of his life became Treasurer of the Royal Horticultural Society, fitting for an MP representing a large rural constituency in East Anglia. A 1963 by-election caused by Mr Hare being elevated to the peerage as Viscount Blakenham (a title currently held by his grandson Caspar) saw Keith Stainton become its MP. Mr Stainton became critical of Margaret Thatcher's policy of deflation in 1980 and as an indirect result failed to be selected in the new South Suffolk constituency, losing to Tim Yeo. Mr Yeo gained notoriety during John Major's "Back to Basics" campaign in 1993 when he was found to have fathered a love child with Conservative councillor Julia Stent whilst Minister for the Environment; Mr Yeo subsequently resigned his post. He held on in 1997 and 2001 mainly due to split opposition between Labour and the Liberal Democrats. He held the seat until 2015 when he was deselected by the local Conservative Association in favour of James Cartlidge, this seat's current MP, and it has reverted to being a very safe Conservative seat with the collapse of the Liberal Democrat challenge. Locally, Babergh is usually Conservative overall although Independents often keep them in check, and recently the Green Party has been acquiring a strong base in the rural parts of this seat; only in Sudbury is there enough Labour support to reliably elect any Labour councillors.
