Banbury (UK Parliament constituency)

Banbury
County constituency for the House of Commons
Boundary of Banbury in Oxfordshire.
Location of Oxfordshire within England.
County	Oxfordshire
Population	117,928 (2011 census)[1]
Electorate	84,063 (December 2010)[2]
Major settlements	Banbury and Bicester
Current constituency
Created	1553
Member of parliament	Victoria Prentis (Conservative)
Number of members	One
Overlaps
European Parliament constituency	South East England

Banbury is a constituency in Oxfordshire^{[n 1]} created in 1553 and represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2015 by Victoria Prentis of the Conservative Party.^{[n 2]} The constituency is occasionally, but erroneously, referred to as the North Oxfordshire constituency.

In terms of electorate Banbury was the 16th largest constituency in the United Kingdom at the time of the 2015 general election.^[3]

History

The constituency was created January 26, 1554 through the efforts of Henry Stafford and Thomas Denton.^[4] Until 1885 it was a parliamentary borough, consisting of the town of Banbury; since then it has been a county constituency, consisting of a northern part of Oxfordshire. It was the constituency represented by Lord North, the Prime Minister during the American War of Independence.

Political history

Banbury has a post-World War I history of Conservative representation and local support for the party. Its MPs since 1922 have all served long terms in office and each since 1922 has been knighted. Following a close election in 1923, the largest vote since 1922 has at each election been for a Conservative. In 2010 Tony Baldry (Con) almost doubled his majority. The 2015 result made the seat the 125^th safest of the Conservative Party's 331 seats by percentage of majority.^[5]

Other parties

Four of the six parties' candidates achieved more than the deposit-retaining threshold of 5% of the vote in 2015. In 2001 Labour Party candidate Lesley Silbey won the largest opposing-party share of the vote since 1974 — 35% of the vote. Prior to 1974, the highest percentage of votes for the second-placed candidate was in 1945 — 48% of the vote.

Constituency profile

The constituency has relatively high economic dependence on agriculture, as well as modern industry (particularly motor sport), research and development, public services and, to a lesser extent, defence. It contains two large market towns, Banbury and Bicester, where the majority of the electorate live. It is a partly rural seat, with the north west of the constituency on the edge of the Cotswolds. The Banbury constituency has experienced significant urban growth in Banbury and Bicester, where the majority of the electorate live. The area has experienced significant urban growth and is popular with commuters who favour its fast transport links to Birmingham, Oxford and London by rail, or the M40. More than one in 10 of the population is employed in higher managerial, administrative and professional work, according to ONS 2011 Census figures for England and Wales. In 2015 the seat was home to 4.3% of EU residents and unemployment was 2.9%.^[6] There are some Labour voting wards in Banbury itself, but the remainder of the constituency including Bicester and the smaller rural towns and villages are safely Conservative. However the 2017 election saw a particularly strong swing for Labour like many towns in southern England.

Boundaries

1885–1918: The Municipal Borough of Banbury, and the Sessional Divisions of Banbury and Bloxham, Chadlington, and Wootton North.

1918–1950: The Municipal Boroughs of Banbury, Chipping Norton, and Woodstock, the Urban District of Witney, and the Rural Districts of Banbury, Chipping Norton, Witney, and Woodstock.

1950–1974: The Municipal Boroughs of Banbury, Chipping Norton, and Woodstock, the Urban District of Witney, the Rural Districts of Banbury, Chipping Norton, and Witney, and in the Rural District of Ploughley the civil parishes of Begbroke, Gosford and Water Eaton, Hampton Gay and Poyle, Kidlington, Shipton on Cherwell, Thrupp, and Yarnton.

1974–1983: The Municipal Boroughs of Banbury, Chipping Norton, and Woodstock, the Urban District of Bicester, the Rural Districts of Banbury and Chipping Norton, and in the Rural District of Ploughley the civil parishes of Ardley, Bucknell, Caversfield, Chesterton, Cottisford, Finmere, Fringford, Fritwell, Godington, Hardwick with Tusmore, Hethe, Kirtlington, Launton, Lower Heyford, Middleton Stoney, Mixbury, Newton Purcell with Shelswell, Somerton, Souldern, Stoke Lyne, Stratton Audley, and Upper Heyford.

1983–1997: The District of Cherwell wards of Adderbury, Ambrosden, Ardley, Bicester East, Bicester South, Bicester West, Bloxham, Bodicote, Calthorpe, Chesterton, Cropredy, Deddington, Easington, Fringford, Grimsbury, Hardwick, Heyford, Hook Norton, Hornton, Kirtlington, Launton, Neithrop, Otmoor, Ruscote, Sibford, Steeple Aston, and Wroxton, and the District of West Oxfordshire wards of Bartons and Tackley, and Wootton.

1997–2010: The District of Cherwell wards of Adderbury, Ambrosden, Ardley, Bicester East, Bicester South, Bicester West, Bloxham, Bodicote, Calthorpe, Chesterton, Cropredy, Deddington, Easington, Fringford, Grimsbury, Hardwick, Heyford, Hook Norton, Hornton, Kirtlington, Launton, Neithrop, Otmoor, Ruscote, Sibford, Steeple Aston, and Wroxton.

2010–present: The District of Cherwell wards of Adderbury, Ambrosden and Chesterton, Banbury Calthorpe, Banbury Easington, Banbury Grimsbury and Castle, Banbury Hardwick, Banbury Neithrop, Banbury Ruscote, Bicester East, Bicester North, Bicester South, Bicester Town, Bicester West, Bloxham and Bodicote, Caversfield, Cropredy, Deddington, Fringford, Hook Norton, Launton, Sibford, The Astons and Heyfords, and Wroxton.

The constituency covers the north-east of Oxfordshire, around Banbury and largely corresponds to the Cherwell local government district, with the principal exception of the large village of Kidlington on the outskirts of Oxford which lies in the Oxford West and Abingdon constituency, and some smaller villages to the north-east of Oxford that lie in the Henley constituency.

Members of Parliament

Elections

Election in the 1920s

General Election 1929: Banbury

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	James Edmondson	16,444	45.5	-7.2
	Liberal	Ronald Wilberforce Allen	13,800	38.2	+7.4
	Labour	Lawrence A Wingfield	5,894	16.3	-0.2
Majority			2,644	7.3	-14.6
Turnout				78.7	-0.6
	Conservative hold		Swing	-7.3

Verney

General Election 1924: Banbury

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	James Edmondson	15,053	52.7
	Liberal	Harry Verney	8,825	30.8
	Labour	Arthur Ernest Monks	4,733	16.5
Majority			6,228	21.9
Turnout				79.3
	Conservative hold		Swing

Fry

General Election 1923: Banbury^[25]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	James Edmondson	12,490	45.8	-0.7
	Liberal	C. B. Fry	12,271	45.0	+15.6
	Labour	Ernest Bennett	2,500	9.2	-14.9
Majority				0.8	-16.3
Turnout				76.0	-0.4
	Conservative hold		Swing	-8.2

General Election 1922: Banbury

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	James Edmondson	12,491	46.5
	Liberal	James Harold Early	7,885	29.4
	Labour	Ernest Bennett	6,463	24.1
Majority			4,606	17.1
Turnout			26,839
	Conservative gain from Liberal		Swing

By-election 1922: Banbury

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
C	Liberal	Rhys Rhys-Williams	Unopposed
	Liberal hold
C indicates candidate endorsed by the coalition government.

Election in the 1910s

General Election 14 December 1918: Banbury

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
C	Liberal	Rhys Rhys-Williams	Unopposed
	Liberal hold
C indicates candidate endorsed by the coalition government.

Banbury by-election, 1918^[26]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Liberal	Rhys Rhys-Williams	Unopposed
	Liberal hold

General Election 1914/15: Another General Election was required to take place before the end of 1915. The political parties had been making preparations for an election to take place and by the July 1914, the following candidates had been selected;

• Liberal: Eustace Fiennes
• Conservative:

General Election December 1910: Banbury^[26]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Liberal	Eustace Fiennes	3,629	50.6	+2.7
	Conservative	Robert Bingham Brassey	3,538	49.4	−2.7
Majority			91	1.2	N/A
Turnout			7,167	89.4	−2.2
Registered electors			8,021
	Liberal gain from Conservative		Swing	+2.7

General Election January 1910: Banbury^[26]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	Robert Bingham Brassey	3,831	52.1	+10.9
	Liberal	Eustace Fiennes	3,516	47.9	−10.9
Majority			315	4.2	N/A
Turnout			7,347	91.6	+4.0
Registered electors			8,021
	Conservative gain from Liberal		Swing	+10.9

Neighbouring constituencies

Banbury is bordered to the north-east by Northamptonshire South, to the east by Buckingham, to the south by Witney and Henley constituencies, to the east by Stratford-upon-Avon and to the north-east by Kenilworth and Southam.

See also

• List of Parliamentary constituencies in Oxfordshire
• Henley
• Oxford East
• Oxford West and Abingdon
• Wantage
• Witney
• History of Banbury, Oxfordshire

Notes and references

Notes

References

Sources

• Iain Dale, ed. (2003). The Times House of Commons 1929, 1931, 1935. Politico's (reprint). ISBN 1-84275-033-X.
• The Times House of Commons 1945. The Times. 1945.
• The Times House of Commons 1950. The Times. 1950.
• The Times House of Commons 1955. The Times. 1955.
• Robert Beatson, A Chronological Register of Both Houses of Parliament (London: Longman, Hurst, Res & Orme, 1807)
• Stanley T. Bindoff et al. (1982). The House of Commons: 1509 – 1558 ; 1, Appendices, constituencies, members A – C, Volume 4. Boydell & Brewer. ISBN 0-436-04282-7. pp. 30–31.
• D Brunton & D H Pennington, Members of the Long Parliament (London: George Allen & Unwin, 1954)
• F W S Craig, British Parliamentary Election Results 1832–1885 (2nd edition, Aldershot: Parliamentary Research Services, 1989)
• The Constitutional Year Book for 1913 (London: National Union of Conservative and Unionist Associations, 1913)

Coordinates: 51°58′N 1°18′W / 51.96°N 1.30°W / 51.96; -1.30