Post by peterl on Jul 17, 2020 16:24:17 GMT
Bournemouth East is one of two constituencies covering Bournemouth, a seaside town with a population of roughly 200,000 at virtually the Eastern extreme of the South West. It currently consists of the following wards of Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Council: Boscombe East, Boscombe West, East Cliff and Springbourne, East Southbourne and Tuckton, Littledown and Iford, Moordown, Queen's Park, Muscliff and Strouden Park and West Southbourne. Tourism and banking are amongst the largest local industries, with 95% of people in Bournemouth as a whole working in the service sector and a large J.P. Morgan office located to the north of the constituency in the Littledown and Iford ward. Opposite this office is the local hospital, which will gain extra capacity as more services are transferred from Poole. Bournemouth as a whole is home to a university, a mainline train station and premiership football club.
Littledown and Iford is a mainly prosperous middle class ward, as are substantial parts of neighbouring Queen’s Park and Strouden Park and the Southbourne wards, which also contain a significant retired population. Throop and Muscliff is a largely working class to lower middle class residential area. The Boscombe wards along with East Cliff and Springbourne host some luxury apartments near to the beach, but are a largely deprived area with a significant drug problem.
The constituency was created for the February 1974 General Election and has exclusively returned Conservative MPs. There have been three members representing the seat since its creation. The first, John Cordle, resigned after being implicated in the John Poulson scandal and was replaced in a November 1977 by election by David Atkinson. Atkinson served until 2005 whereupon he was replaced by current incumbent Tobias Ellwood. Ellwood does not currently hold ministerial office, but has previously held several positions under the Cameron and May administrations. Ellwood has the whip suspended in July 2022 after being absent during a vote of no confidence. The whip was reinstated in October 2022. The constituency has always voted Conservative by a large margin, with 9.6% in 2001 being the smallest majority since its creation. Second place however has proved to be something of a battleground: being won by the Lib Dems and their Liberal predecessors in February and October 1974, and then in every election from 1983 until 2010 but Labour achieving runner-up in 2015, 2017 and 2019, a feat only previously managed in 1979 and in the 1977 by election and attributed to Bournemouth’s growing student population.
Bournemouth East has also been a moderately successful seat for UKIP during its heyday with third place and 16.5% in 2015 and a saved deposit also achieved in 2010. The Green Party scored an impressive 7.3% in 2015, the only other occasion on which a smaller party has saved their deposit in this seat, but have seen diminished results in the two subsequent elections.
Council seats in the constituency have generally also gone Conservative in recent years, asides from Muscliff and Strouden Park and the former Throop and Muscliff Ward, which have elected a number of independents. Boscombe and West Southbourne are beginning to see some Labour representation following the 2019 elections, and Queen’s Park has voted Lib Dem as recently as 2011. However, while the constituency may present a promising target for Labour in the distant future if student numbers continue to grow, for now second place is probably all they can hope for as Bournemouth East must for the foreseeable future be seen as a safe Conservative seat.
Littledown and Iford is a mainly prosperous middle class ward, as are substantial parts of neighbouring Queen’s Park and Strouden Park and the Southbourne wards, which also contain a significant retired population. Throop and Muscliff is a largely working class to lower middle class residential area. The Boscombe wards along with East Cliff and Springbourne host some luxury apartments near to the beach, but are a largely deprived area with a significant drug problem.
The constituency was created for the February 1974 General Election and has exclusively returned Conservative MPs. There have been three members representing the seat since its creation. The first, John Cordle, resigned after being implicated in the John Poulson scandal and was replaced in a November 1977 by election by David Atkinson. Atkinson served until 2005 whereupon he was replaced by current incumbent Tobias Ellwood. Ellwood does not currently hold ministerial office, but has previously held several positions under the Cameron and May administrations. Ellwood has the whip suspended in July 2022 after being absent during a vote of no confidence. The whip was reinstated in October 2022. The constituency has always voted Conservative by a large margin, with 9.6% in 2001 being the smallest majority since its creation. Second place however has proved to be something of a battleground: being won by the Lib Dems and their Liberal predecessors in February and October 1974, and then in every election from 1983 until 2010 but Labour achieving runner-up in 2015, 2017 and 2019, a feat only previously managed in 1979 and in the 1977 by election and attributed to Bournemouth’s growing student population.
Bournemouth East has also been a moderately successful seat for UKIP during its heyday with third place and 16.5% in 2015 and a saved deposit also achieved in 2010. The Green Party scored an impressive 7.3% in 2015, the only other occasion on which a smaller party has saved their deposit in this seat, but have seen diminished results in the two subsequent elections.
Council seats in the constituency have generally also gone Conservative in recent years, asides from Muscliff and Strouden Park and the former Throop and Muscliff Ward, which have elected a number of independents. Boscombe and West Southbourne are beginning to see some Labour representation following the 2019 elections, and Queen’s Park has voted Lib Dem as recently as 2011. However, while the constituency may present a promising target for Labour in the distant future if student numbers continue to grow, for now second place is probably all they can hope for as Bournemouth East must for the foreseeable future be seen as a safe Conservative seat.
