Luton North (UK Parliament constituency)

Coordinates: 51°54′07″N 0°26′46″W / 51.902°N 0.446°W / 51.902; -0.446

Luton North
Borough constituency
for the House of Commons
Outline map
Boundary of Luton North in Bedfordshire.
Outline map
Location of Bedfordshire within England.
County Bedfordshire
Electorate 66,273 (December 2010)[1]
Major settlements Luton
Current constituency
Created 1983
Member of parliament Kelvin Hopkins (Independent)
Number of members One
Created from Luton West, Mid Bedfordshire, South Bedfordshire and Luton East[2]
Overlaps
European Parliament constituency East of England

Luton North is a constituency[n 1] represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 1997 by Kelvin Hopkins, elected as a member of the Labour Party. In November 2017, Hopkins was suspended from the Labour Party due to allegations of sexual misconduct, thus he currently sits as an Independent.[3][n 2]

Boundaries

1983-1997: The Borough of Luton wards of Bramingham, Challney, Icknield, Leagrave, Lewsey, Limbury, and Sundon Park, the District of Mid Bedfordshire wards of Flitton and Pulloxhill, Flitwick East, Flitwick West, Harlington, and Westoning, and the District of South Bedfordshire wards of Barton-le-Clay, Streatley, and Toddington.

1997-2010: The Borough of Luton wards of Bramingham, Challney, Icknield, Leagrave, Lewsey, Limbury, Saints, and Sundon Park.

2010–present: The Borough of Luton wards of Barnfield, Bramingham, Challney, Icknield, Leagrave, Lewsey, Limbury, Northwell, Saints, and Sundon Park.

Luton North was created in 1983, primarily from the former seat of Luton West. It consists of the northern portion of the town of Luton, excluding Stopsley.

Constituency profile

One other constituency than Luton North includes Luton — Luton South — both cover a similar housing profile[n 3][4] and economic ambit that have seen house prices increase above the national average since 1997, two periods of relatively high numbers of the unemployed and lowest wage earners (the 1990s and 2008–2011 global recession).[5] The former covers roughly the LU3 and 4 postcode districts and excludes the town centre of what one broadsheet characterised as a tough town[6] whereas other commentators state that Luton has a resilient economy which "revolves around the airport as well as the retail sector."[7]

At creation, Luton North included eight wards from the neighbouring districts of Mid Bedfordshire and South Bedfordshire; these made it a much safer seat for the Conservatives than Luton South, which included only one ward from outside the Borough of Luton. Boundary changes in 1997 reduced the Conservative majority from 13,094 to 7,357, and it was 81st on Labour's list of target seats; Labour duly gained it on a 17.1% swing, and since then the Labour MP elected in 1997, Kelvin Hopkins, has held the seat with comfortable majorities.

From 2005 to 2015, Luton North was Labour's safest seat in the East of England by both vote and voteshare majority; in 2017 it was overtaken in the former count by Norwich South, but the percentage margin in Luton North (30.8% compared to 30.4% in Norwich South) is slightly higher.

Map of Luton wards: This constituency covers the wards north of Dallow and west of Stopsley

Members of Parliament

ElectionMember[8]Party
1983 John CarlisleConservative
1997 Kelvin HopkinsLabour
2017 Independent

Elections

Elections in the 2010s

General Election 2017: Luton North
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Labour Kelvin Hopkins 29,765 63.8 +11.6
Conservative Caroline Kerswell 15,401 33.0 +3.1
Liberal Democrat Rabi Martins 808 1.7 -1.3
Green Simon Hall 648 1.4 -0.9
Majority 14,364 30.8 +8.5
Turnout 46,622 71.0 +7.0
Labour hold Swing +4.3
General Election 2015: Luton North[9]
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Labour Kelvin Hopkins[10] 22,243 52.2 +2.9
Conservative Dean Russell[11] 12,739 29.9 −1.9
UKIP Allan White[11] 5,318 12.5 +8.9
Liberal Democrat Aroosa Ulzaman 1,299 3.1 −8.1
Green Sofiya Ahmed 972 2.3 +1.1
Majority 9,504 22.3 +4.8
Turnout 42,571 64.0 −1.5
Labour hold Swing +2.4
General Election 2010: Luton North[12]
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Labour Kelvin Hopkins 21,192 49.3 +0.7
Conservative Jeremy Brier 13,672 31.8 −0.4
Liberal Democrat Rabi Martins 4,784 11.1 −4.5
UKIP Colin Brown 1,564 3.6 +0.4
BNP Shelley Rose 1,316 3.1 N/A
Green Simon Hall 490 1.1 N/A
Majority 7,520 17.5 +0.9
Turnout 43,018 65.5 +8.6
Labour hold Swing +0.5

Elections in the 2000s

General Election 2005: Luton North[13]
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Labour Kelvin Hopkins 19,062 48.7 −8.0
Conservative Hannah S. Hall 12,575 32.1 +0.9
Liberal Democrat Linda A. Jack 6,081 15.5 +5.8
UKIP Colin Brown 1,255 3.2 +0.8
Open Forum Kayson J. Gurney 149 0.4 N/A
Majority 6,487 16.6 -8.9
Turnout 39,122 57.4 −0.5
Labour hold Swing −4.5
General Election 2001: Luton North[14]
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Labour Kelvin Hopkins 22,187 56.7 +2.1
Conservative Amanda Sater 12,210 31.2 −3.1
Liberal Democrat Robert C.H. Hoyle 3,795 9.7 +0.6
UKIP Colin Brown 934 2.4 +0.9
Majority 9,977 25.5 +5.2
Turnout 39,126 57.9 −15.3
Labour hold Swing

Elections in the 1990s

General Election 1997: Luton North[15]
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Labour Kelvin Hopkins 25,860 54.6 +17.4
Conservative David Senior 16,234 34.3 −16.9
Liberal Democrat Kathryn Newbound 4,299 9.1 −1.1
UKIP Colin Brown 689 1.5 N/A
Natural Law Aaron Custance 250 0.5 +0.0
Majority 9,626 20.3 N/A
Turnout 47,332 73.2 -8.6
Labour gain from Conservative Swing
General Election 1992: Luton North[16][17]
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Conservative John Carlisle 33,777 53.7 −0.2
Labour Tony McWalter 20,683 32.9 +6.1
Liberal Democrat Jane Jackson 7,570 12.0 −7.4
Green Roger Jones 633 1.0 N/A
Natural Law Keith Buscombe 292 0.5 N/A
Majority 13,094 20.8 −6.2
Turnout 62,955 81.8 +4.2
Conservative hold Swing −3.1

Elections in the 1980s

General Election 1987: Luton North[18]
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Conservative John Carlisle 30,997 53.8 +5.5
Labour Michael Wright 15,424 26.8 +0.6
Social Democratic John Stephen 11,166 19.4 −6.1
Majority 15,573 27.0 +4.8
Turnout 57,587 77.6 +0.2
Conservative hold Swing
General Election 1983: Luton North[19]
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Conservative John Carlisle 26,115 48.3 N/A
Labour Kelvin Hopkins 14,134 26.2 N/A
Social Democratic John Stephen 13,769 25.5 N/A
Majority 11,981 22.2 N/A
Turnout 54,018 77.4 N/A
Conservative win (new seat)

See also

Notes and references

Notes
  1. ↑ A borough constituency (for the purposes of election expenses and type of returning officer)
  2. ↑ As with all constituencies, the constituency elects one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first past the post system of election at least every five years.
  3. ↑ The proportion of semi-detached houses is in the highest of the five categories, similar to London Borough of Havering, London Borough of Bexley, Castle Point and Ipswich only surpassed in the east/southeast by Rochford
References
  1. ↑ "Electorate Figures – Boundary Commission for England". 2011 Electorate Figures. Boundary Commission for England. 4 March 2011. Archived from the original on 6 November 2010. Retrieved 13 March 2011.
  2. ↑ "'Luton North', June 1983 up to May 1997". ElectionWeb Project. Cognitive Computing Limited. Archived from the original on 13 March 2016. Retrieved 12 March 2016.
  3. ↑ Kentish, Ben (2 November 2017). "Labour suspends MP Kelvin Hopkins amid allegations of sexual harassment". The Independent. London. Retrieved 2 November 2017.
  4. ↑ 2011 census interactive maps Archived 29 January 2016 at the Wayback Machine.
  5. ↑ "Local statistics - Office for National Statistics". neighbourhood.statistics.gov.uk.
  6. ↑ "Politics". the Guardian.
  7. ↑ "Area and Property Guide for lu3 - Mouseprice". www.mouseprice.com.
  8. ↑ Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "L" (part 4)
  9. ↑ "Election Data 2015". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 17 October 2015. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
  10. ↑ "LUTON NORTH 2015". electionresults.blogspot.co.uk.
  11. 1 2 "UK Polling Report". ukpollingreport.co.uk.
  12. ↑ "Election Data 2010". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 26 July 2013. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
  13. ↑ "Election Data 2005". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
  14. ↑ "Election Data 2001". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
  15. ↑ "Election Data 1997". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
  16. ↑ "Election Data 1992". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
  17. ↑ "Politics Resources". Election 1992. Politics Resources. 9 April 1992. Retrieved 6 December 2010.
  18. ↑ "Election Data 1987". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
  19. ↑ "Election Data 1983". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
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