Post by andrewp on Aug 4, 2023 12:28:19 GMT
The boundary commission review which concluded in 2023, treated the counties of Somerset, Devon and the former county of Avon together and has awarded that sub region 2 extra parliamentary constituencies. One of the constituencies with a claim to being an extra seat is this one. This constituency crosses the county border between Devon and Somerset and does not contain the majority of electors of any of its predecessor constituencies. 31000 voters come from ‘Tiverton’, from that mid Devon market town and its immediate surrounds. This section is all of the Mid Devon section of the current Tiverton and Honiton constituency apart from the town of Cullompton. About 28000 voters come in from the Bridgwater and West Somerset constituency, essentially the whole of the former West Somerset district council area including the small coastal towns of Minehead and Watchet and finally about 11000 voters come from the Western end of the Taunton Deane constituency in Wiveliscombe and Milverton. The result is a very rural and geographically large constituency, with small towns and poor transport links.
This is a new, and perhaps not obvious, direction for Tiverton to look to, for neighbours to join in a parliamentary constituency. Its 28 miles and about an hours drive up the Exe Valley from Tiverton to Minehead. Over the past 50 years the parliamentary constituency bearing the name Tiverton has had quite different forms. Until 1983 the Tiverton constituency wrapped around Exeter to the coastline around Dawlish and Teignmouth. That coastline was lost in 1983 as Tiverton became an inland Mid Devon seat. In 1997, Tiverton became linked with Honiton some miles to the South East, and then in 2010 it gained a different coastline around Seaton In East Devon. Now the first time it looks North and gains a Bristol Channel coastline
Politically, this is far from the optimum outcome for the Liberal Democrats. In May 2022 the Conservative MP for the Tiverton and Honiton constituency, Neil Parish, resigned having been caught getting his Dominators muddled up on Google. In the ensuing by election held on 23rd June, The Liberal Democrats achieved a 30% swing to come from 3rd place and overturn Parish’s majority of 24,000, with Richard Foord winning by fully 6,000 votes. Unlike the seats in which the previous 2 by elections which the Lib Dems had gained in this parliament were held, the Lib Dems had previously come close to winning in Tiverton and Honiton before, losing by 1600 votes in 1997. Now Foord is faced with his newly won prize being split into two.
The Lib Dems followed up their parliamentary by election success, by gaining overall control of Mid Devon District council in 2023. The Mid Devon wards in this constituency elected 19 Liberal Democrats, 1 Conservative and 1 Green councillor. The Minehead section, however, is not the Lib Dems best bit of Somerset. It contains 4 Somerset council wards. These wards elected 6 Conservatives, 1 Liberal Democrat and 1 Independent in 2022
Tiverton is the largest town in the new seat with a population of 20,000. It’s a fairly typical rural market town on the River Exe. Tiverton was an early Wool trade town, and indeed one of the early wool Merchants Peter Blundell bequeathed the funds to build Blundell’s school, an Independent school set on a hill to the West of the Town.
Tiverton town is the least Conservative part of its current seat, and in the by election, as well as some of their better General elections like 1997 here, they would have been well ahead in Tiverton town. The Labour vote of 11654 in 2019, which was as so often squeezed effectively by the Liberal Democrats in the subsequent by election, would have been strongest in Tiverton town, in the council estates in the North and West of the town particularly
The second largest town, with a population of about 10,000 is Minehead, situated beneath the imposing North Hill, on the Bristol Channel Coast. It is dominated by a large Butlins holiday camp and like a lot of West Somerset is a mix of wealthy retired people, and very real social problems for some younger people due to lack of employment and industry. Also included in this seat is a section of the wild and remote Exmoor National Park, with its stunning scenery.
Overall, by election aside, this would be a very safe Conservative seat. One of the safest in the South West and one of the 100 safest nationally with a notional majority well over 20,000. Richard Foord has opted to follow the majority of this constituents and fight for the new Honiton and Sidmouth constituency. It remains to be seen whether the Liberal Democrats can build on their by election success in Tiverton in this constituency. Sitting MP for Bridgwater Ian Liddell Grainger, who lives in this constituency, has been selected as the Conservative candidate here.
This is a new, and perhaps not obvious, direction for Tiverton to look to, for neighbours to join in a parliamentary constituency. Its 28 miles and about an hours drive up the Exe Valley from Tiverton to Minehead. Over the past 50 years the parliamentary constituency bearing the name Tiverton has had quite different forms. Until 1983 the Tiverton constituency wrapped around Exeter to the coastline around Dawlish and Teignmouth. That coastline was lost in 1983 as Tiverton became an inland Mid Devon seat. In 1997, Tiverton became linked with Honiton some miles to the South East, and then in 2010 it gained a different coastline around Seaton In East Devon. Now the first time it looks North and gains a Bristol Channel coastline
Politically, this is far from the optimum outcome for the Liberal Democrats. In May 2022 the Conservative MP for the Tiverton and Honiton constituency, Neil Parish, resigned having been caught getting his Dominators muddled up on Google. In the ensuing by election held on 23rd June, The Liberal Democrats achieved a 30% swing to come from 3rd place and overturn Parish’s majority of 24,000, with Richard Foord winning by fully 6,000 votes. Unlike the seats in which the previous 2 by elections which the Lib Dems had gained in this parliament were held, the Lib Dems had previously come close to winning in Tiverton and Honiton before, losing by 1600 votes in 1997. Now Foord is faced with his newly won prize being split into two.
The Lib Dems followed up their parliamentary by election success, by gaining overall control of Mid Devon District council in 2023. The Mid Devon wards in this constituency elected 19 Liberal Democrats, 1 Conservative and 1 Green councillor. The Minehead section, however, is not the Lib Dems best bit of Somerset. It contains 4 Somerset council wards. These wards elected 6 Conservatives, 1 Liberal Democrat and 1 Independent in 2022
Tiverton is the largest town in the new seat with a population of 20,000. It’s a fairly typical rural market town on the River Exe. Tiverton was an early Wool trade town, and indeed one of the early wool Merchants Peter Blundell bequeathed the funds to build Blundell’s school, an Independent school set on a hill to the West of the Town.
Tiverton town is the least Conservative part of its current seat, and in the by election, as well as some of their better General elections like 1997 here, they would have been well ahead in Tiverton town. The Labour vote of 11654 in 2019, which was as so often squeezed effectively by the Liberal Democrats in the subsequent by election, would have been strongest in Tiverton town, in the council estates in the North and West of the town particularly
The second largest town, with a population of about 10,000 is Minehead, situated beneath the imposing North Hill, on the Bristol Channel Coast. It is dominated by a large Butlins holiday camp and like a lot of West Somerset is a mix of wealthy retired people, and very real social problems for some younger people due to lack of employment and industry. Also included in this seat is a section of the wild and remote Exmoor National Park, with its stunning scenery.
Overall, by election aside, this would be a very safe Conservative seat. One of the safest in the South West and one of the 100 safest nationally with a notional majority well over 20,000. Richard Foord has opted to follow the majority of this constituents and fight for the new Honiton and Sidmouth constituency. It remains to be seen whether the Liberal Democrats can build on their by election success in Tiverton in this constituency. Sitting MP for Bridgwater Ian Liddell Grainger, who lives in this constituency, has been selected as the Conservative candidate here.
