Post by greenhert on May 7, 2020 23:16:05 GMT
South Holland & The Deepings was created in 1997 from the "Holland part" of Holland with Boston, and the "Spalding part" of Stamford & Spalding. It comprises all of the South Holland district in Lincolnshire plus the communities of Market Deeping and Deeping St James (in South Kesteven district; Deeping St Nicholas is in South Holland district), hence the constituency name.
South Holland & The Deepings covers a large, rural area of southern Lincolnshire home to important fertile farmland and wetlands. The largest town in the constituency is Spalding, which by the standards of rural Lincolnshire market towns is actually quite large, with a population of approximately 35,000 as of this time of writing, is an important flower and vegetable growing town and employs many food pickers, mainly from Eastern Europe in recent years. Food companies dominate the town. Nearby is Holbeach, a town which the Prime Meridian of Greenwich Mean Time fame passes through and which also focuses on food processing and bulb growing, particularly of tulips. The whole South Holland had the second highest Leave vote in the 2016 EU membership referendum: 73.6%, behind only neighbouring Boston. Deeping St James is the largest of the Deepings, a group of small communities near the River Welland where wetland drainage is important, although it is a village whereas Market Deeping is a town. South Holland & The Deepings has a low proportion of degree-holders-17%-and nearly 30% of the population have no qualifications. This is not too surprising given that it has a higher than average rate of employment in both the primary (agriculture, forestry and fishing) and secondary (manufacturing) economic sectors. Its white population is as high as 98%, like the rest of rural Lincolnshire; it has an ageing population, the highest Christian population in the East Midlands and almost the country despite not having a notable Catholic tradition, and it has a high owner-occupier rate (73.2%) with the proportions of social and private renters being almost equally low (12.4% and 12.3%).
South Holland & The Deepings is the safest Conservative seat in the country by percentage majority in 2019 (62.7% over Labour), and in 2017 its Conservative vote share was the highest in the country (69.9% in 2017, increasing even further to 75.9% in 2019); in 2019 it was behind only Castle Point and Boston & Skegness in terms of Conservative vote share. Unlike the former two seats, however, there was never any possibility of this seat electing a Labour MP at any time; even in 1997 Sir John Hayes held the new seat with a majority as high as 7,991 over Labour, and with a Conservative vote share of 49.3% that year, 17 percentage points above the average Conservative vote share in England. Sir John held several ministerial positions under David Cameron but has never held any ministerial office under Boris Johnson. He is very conservative in a small c way as well-he is pro-life (and in fact is an SPUC member), anti-globalist, a staunch Eurosceptic like most of his constituents, he voted against same-sex marriage, and once called for capital punishment to be restored. Locally, South Holland is solidly Conservative (and frequently, at least two Conservative councillors are elected unopposed with 2015 being one of the few elections in South Holland without councillors being returned unopposed) with Independents providing the only opposition on the council. Deeping St James and Market Deeping meanwhile have a strong Independent tradition and personal votes and local renown are more important than party labels in both places; from 2015-19 Deeping St James had the only Labour councillor in this constituency's boundaries but that year he was elected unopposed along with the other two councillors.
South Holland & The Deepings covers a large, rural area of southern Lincolnshire home to important fertile farmland and wetlands. The largest town in the constituency is Spalding, which by the standards of rural Lincolnshire market towns is actually quite large, with a population of approximately 35,000 as of this time of writing, is an important flower and vegetable growing town and employs many food pickers, mainly from Eastern Europe in recent years. Food companies dominate the town. Nearby is Holbeach, a town which the Prime Meridian of Greenwich Mean Time fame passes through and which also focuses on food processing and bulb growing, particularly of tulips. The whole South Holland had the second highest Leave vote in the 2016 EU membership referendum: 73.6%, behind only neighbouring Boston. Deeping St James is the largest of the Deepings, a group of small communities near the River Welland where wetland drainage is important, although it is a village whereas Market Deeping is a town. South Holland & The Deepings has a low proportion of degree-holders-17%-and nearly 30% of the population have no qualifications. This is not too surprising given that it has a higher than average rate of employment in both the primary (agriculture, forestry and fishing) and secondary (manufacturing) economic sectors. Its white population is as high as 98%, like the rest of rural Lincolnshire; it has an ageing population, the highest Christian population in the East Midlands and almost the country despite not having a notable Catholic tradition, and it has a high owner-occupier rate (73.2%) with the proportions of social and private renters being almost equally low (12.4% and 12.3%).
South Holland & The Deepings is the safest Conservative seat in the country by percentage majority in 2019 (62.7% over Labour), and in 2017 its Conservative vote share was the highest in the country (69.9% in 2017, increasing even further to 75.9% in 2019); in 2019 it was behind only Castle Point and Boston & Skegness in terms of Conservative vote share. Unlike the former two seats, however, there was never any possibility of this seat electing a Labour MP at any time; even in 1997 Sir John Hayes held the new seat with a majority as high as 7,991 over Labour, and with a Conservative vote share of 49.3% that year, 17 percentage points above the average Conservative vote share in England. Sir John held several ministerial positions under David Cameron but has never held any ministerial office under Boris Johnson. He is very conservative in a small c way as well-he is pro-life (and in fact is an SPUC member), anti-globalist, a staunch Eurosceptic like most of his constituents, he voted against same-sex marriage, and once called for capital punishment to be restored. Locally, South Holland is solidly Conservative (and frequently, at least two Conservative councillors are elected unopposed with 2015 being one of the few elections in South Holland without councillors being returned unopposed) with Independents providing the only opposition on the council. Deeping St James and Market Deeping meanwhile have a strong Independent tradition and personal votes and local renown are more important than party labels in both places; from 2015-19 Deeping St James had the only Labour councillor in this constituency's boundaries but that year he was elected unopposed along with the other two councillors.
