Truro and St Austell (UK Parliament constituency)

Truro and St Austell was a county constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elected one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first past the post system of election.

Truro and St Austell
Former County constituency
for the House of Commons
Boundary of Truro and St Austell in Cornwall for the 2005 general election
Location of Cornwall within England
CountyCornwall
Major settlementsTruro and St Austell
1997–2010
Number of membersOne
Replaced byTruro and Falmouth, St Austell and Newquay
Created fromTruro

Boundaries

The District of Carrick wards of Boscawen, Chacewater, Feock, Kea, Kenwyn, Moresk, Newlyn, Perranzabuloe, Probus, Roseland, St Agnes, St Clement, Tregolls, and Trehaverne, and the Borough of Restormel wards of Crinnis, Mevagissey, Poltair, Rock, St Ewe, St Mewan, St Stephen-in-Brannel, Trevarna, and Treverbyn.

The constituency was centred on the former district of Carrick, which contains the city of Truro, and the former borough of Restormel which contains the town of St Austell.

Boundary review

Following their review of parliamentary representation in Cornwall, the Boundary Commission for England created an extra seat for the county which meant consequential changes for the existing seats. Truro and St Austell was abolished, and was partly succeeded by St Austell and Newquay.

The city of Truro forms part of the newly created Truro and Falmouth constituency.

History

The constituency has existed in a number of different forms. The Truro constituency, up until 1885 elected two members to parliament; this was reduced to one. In 1918 the constituency was abolished but it was recreated again in 1950.

In 1997, in spite of the fact that no boundary changes were made to Truro on that occasion, the Boundary Commission nonetheless saw fit to change its name to Truro and St. Austell, reflecting the fact that St Austell has a larger population than Truro. The Truro seat became a safe Liberal seat due to the popularity of its former MP, David Penhaligon. He died in a car crash in 1986, aged 42 and was succeeded at a by-election the following year by Matthew Taylor, who held the seat comfortably until his retirement, and the constituency's abolition, in 2010.

Members of Parliament
ElectionMember[1] Party
1997 Matthew Taylor Liberal Democrat
2010 constituency abolished: see Truro and Falmouth
and St Austell and Newquay

Elections
St Austell area election results


Elections in the 2000s
General election 2005: Truro and St Austell[2]
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Liberal Democrats Matthew Taylor 24,089 46.7 -1.6
Conservative Fiona Kemp 16,686 32.4 +0.1
Labour Charlotte Mackenzie 6,991 13.6 -0.1
UKIP David Noakes 2,736 5.3 +2.0
Mebyon Kernow Conan Jenkin 1,062 2.1 -0.2
Majority 7,403 14.4
Turnout 51,564 64.2 0.7
Liberal Democrats hold Swing -0.8
General election 2001: Truro and St Austell[3]
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Liberal Democrats Matthew Taylor 24,296 48.3 -0.2
Conservative Timothy Bonner 16,231 32.3 +5.8
Labour David Phillips 6,889 13.7 -1.6
UKIP James Wonnacott 1,664 3.3 +2.3
Mebyon Kernow Conan Jenkin 1,137 2.3 +1.5
Independent John Lee 78 0.2 -0.3
Majority 8,065 16.0
Turnout 50,295 63.5 -10.6
Liberal Democrats hold Swing -3.0

Elections in the 1990s
General election 1997: Truro and St Austell[4]
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Liberal Democrats Matthew Taylor 27,502 48.5 -2.0
Conservative Neil Badcock 15,001 26.4 -11.9
Labour Michael Dooley 8,697 15.3 +5.5
Referendum Carl Hearn 3,682 6.5
UKIP Alan Haithwaite 576 1.0
Green Dorienne Robinson 482 0.8 -0.1
Mebyon Kernow Davyth Hicks 450 0.8
Independent Lorna Yelland 240 0.4
Natural Law Peter Bolland 117 0.2 +0.0
Majority 12,501 22.0 +9.8
Turnout 56,747 74.0 -8.3
Liberal Democrats win (new seat)

For elections before 1997, see Truro

See also

Notes and references
  1. Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "T" (part 2)
  2. "Election Data 2005". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
  3. "Election Data 2001". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
  4. "Election Data 1997". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.

Sources
  • Robert Beatson, A Chronological Register of Both Houses of Parliament (London: Longman, Hurst, Res & Orme, 1807)
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