Post by andrewp on Aug 13, 2020 10:02:57 GMT
Moor View was a new designation for a Plymouth constituency, brought into being by the 5th periodical review which came into force for the 2010 general election. All of the areas after which Plymouth constituencies were traditionally named- Devonport, Drake and Sutton- were placed in the new southern Plymouth constituency so a new name was needed. Originally this seat was to be named Plymouth North, but eventually Moor View was settled on, despite that not being one of the more prominent suburb names. This seat is essentially the Plymouth Devonport that existed prior to 2010 without the Devonport area itself.
This is an almost entirely suburban seat, and does not contain any of the famous landmarks of the city. Rather, it contains great swathes of hilly estates of council built housing. This is mostly working class territory with lower than average property prices and a higher proportion of manual workers. It does however have the armed forces presence, that traditionally skews an area rightwards. Derriford Hospital, which serves as the major hospital for most of Cornwall is situated in this constituency. Moor View is 97.5% white. It still has 27.6% of socially rented housing, which is the 59th highest of any parliamentary constituency. It is a low skilled constituency, being ranked 544th of constituencies for % of people educated to degree level. This is white working class territory and would be similar to the types of constituency that became known as the red wall in 2019, tucked away down in Devon.
The constituency contains seven wards of the city of Plymouth. When these wards were first contested in 2003, which was by no means a brilliant year for the party, Labour won all seven. Since then the Conservatives have gradually been making inroads. By 2019, the Conservatives took four, to Labour’s three. The two remaining safe Labour wards are Ham and Honicknowle- these are the two wards to the south of the A38 as it runs through the city and where about one third of the housing is still rented. Eggbuckland is the most owner occupied ward, and unsurprisingly the best Conservative ward, and that ward now looks safe for that party.
The old Devonport had three prominent MPs between 1945 and 1992- Michael Foot, Dame Joan Vickers and David Owen. Owen held Devonport twice as an SDP member in 1983 and 1987. Upon his retirement in 1992, Devonport resorted to being a semi marginal Labour seat. When Moor View was created in 2010, it had a notional Labour majority of 7740. Devonport Labour MP Alison Seabeck won the first contest in Moor View by 1500 in 2010. In 2015 new Conservative candidate Johnny Mercer gained the seat by 1000 votes on a 3% swing. Mercer has increased his majority to 5000 in 2017, and then on a 9% swing to 12,897 in 2019, in a result more akin to those in Red wall seats than seen in most of the South of England. Mercer had a distinguished military career including 3 tours of Afghanistan, which is no bad thing to have on a CV in this military city. Even campaigning to remain in the EU hasn’t been held against him in a constituency that voted 66% leave and Labour now have a steep hill to climb here in hilly Northern Plymouth.
This is an almost entirely suburban seat, and does not contain any of the famous landmarks of the city. Rather, it contains great swathes of hilly estates of council built housing. This is mostly working class territory with lower than average property prices and a higher proportion of manual workers. It does however have the armed forces presence, that traditionally skews an area rightwards. Derriford Hospital, which serves as the major hospital for most of Cornwall is situated in this constituency. Moor View is 97.5% white. It still has 27.6% of socially rented housing, which is the 59th highest of any parliamentary constituency. It is a low skilled constituency, being ranked 544th of constituencies for % of people educated to degree level. This is white working class territory and would be similar to the types of constituency that became known as the red wall in 2019, tucked away down in Devon.
The constituency contains seven wards of the city of Plymouth. When these wards were first contested in 2003, which was by no means a brilliant year for the party, Labour won all seven. Since then the Conservatives have gradually been making inroads. By 2019, the Conservatives took four, to Labour’s three. The two remaining safe Labour wards are Ham and Honicknowle- these are the two wards to the south of the A38 as it runs through the city and where about one third of the housing is still rented. Eggbuckland is the most owner occupied ward, and unsurprisingly the best Conservative ward, and that ward now looks safe for that party.
The old Devonport had three prominent MPs between 1945 and 1992- Michael Foot, Dame Joan Vickers and David Owen. Owen held Devonport twice as an SDP member in 1983 and 1987. Upon his retirement in 1992, Devonport resorted to being a semi marginal Labour seat. When Moor View was created in 2010, it had a notional Labour majority of 7740. Devonport Labour MP Alison Seabeck won the first contest in Moor View by 1500 in 2010. In 2015 new Conservative candidate Johnny Mercer gained the seat by 1000 votes on a 3% swing. Mercer has increased his majority to 5000 in 2017, and then on a 9% swing to 12,897 in 2019, in a result more akin to those in Red wall seats than seen in most of the South of England. Mercer had a distinguished military career including 3 tours of Afghanistan, which is no bad thing to have on a CV in this military city. Even campaigning to remain in the EU hasn’t been held against him in a constituency that voted 66% leave and Labour now have a steep hill to climb here in hilly Northern Plymouth.
