The

ceremonial county The counties and areas for the purposes of the lieutenancies, also referred to as the lieutenancy areas of England and informally known as ceremonial counties, are areas of England to which lords-lieutenant are appointed. Legally, the areas i ...

Cornwall Cornwall (; kw, Kernow ) is a historic county and ceremonial county in South West England. It is recognised as one of the Celtic nations, and is the homeland of the Cornish people. Cornwall is bordered to the north and west by the Atlantic ...

, which includes the

Isles of Scilly The Isles of Scilly (; kw, Syllan, ', or ) is an archipelago off the southwestern tip of Cornwall, England. One of the islands, St Agnes, is the most southerly point in Britain, being over further south than the most southerly point of the ...

, is divided into six

parliamentary constituencies An electoral district, also known as an election district, legislative district, voting district, constituency, riding, ward, division, or (election) precinct is a subdivision of a larger state (a country, administrative region, or other poli ...

. They are all

county constituencies In the United Kingdom (UK), each of the electoral areas or divisions called constituencies elects one member to the House of Commons. Within the United Kingdom there are five bodies with members elected by electoral districts called "constituenc ...

Parliamentary history of Cornwall

All six parliamentary seats are currently held by

Conservatives Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization in ...

, having came from holding no seats in

1997 File:1997 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The movie set of ''Titanic'', the highest-grossing movie in history at the time; ''Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', is published; Comet Hale-Bopp passes by Earth and becomes one of t ...

2001 The September 11 attacks against the United States by Al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror, were a defining event of 2001. The United States led a Participants in ...

and

2005 File:2005 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf of Mexico; the Funeral of Pope John Paul II is held in Vatican City; "Me at the zoo", the first video ever to be uploaded to YouTube; Eris was discovered in ...

, to gaining three of the six from the Liberal Democrats in

2010 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...

, to gaining the remaining three to hold all six Cornish seats in

2015 File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the Apri ...

. All six MPs were re-elected in

2017 File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a ser ...

. In that election, several previous Liberal Democrat candidates, including previous MPs Andrew George and Steve Gilbert re-stood in their old seats, but failed to be re-elected. In all six seats, the

Labour Labour or labor may refer to: * Childbirth, the delivery of a baby * Labour (human activity), or work ** Manual labour, physical work ** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer ** Organized labour and the labour ...

vote surged, pushing the Liberals into third place in four of the six seats. In the 2019 election, Labour retained their position as the second-placed party in most of the Cornish seats, holding their vote up far better in the region than elsewhere in the country. The last Labour MP for a Cornish constituency was

Candy Atherton Candice Kathleen Atherton (21 September 1955 – 30 October 2017) was a British Labour politician and journalist. After serving as a councillor in Islington, where she was mayor, she was Member of Parliament (MP) for Falmouth and Camborne from ...

, who held the seat of Falmouth and Camborne between 1997 and 2005.

Constituencies

2010 boundary review

Under the

Fifth Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies The Fifth Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies was undertaken between 2000 and 2007 by the four boundary commissions for England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland for the UK Parliament. The changes for England, Wales and Northern I ...

, the

Boundary Commission for England The boundary commissions in the United Kingdom are non-departmental public bodies responsible for determining the boundaries of constituencies for elections to the House of Commons. There are four boundary commissions: * Boundary Commission for E ...

decided to increase the number of seats which covered Cornwall from 5 to 6. Falmouth and Camborne, and Truro and St Austell were abolished and replaced by Camborne and Redruth, St Austell and Newquay, and Truro and Falmouth.

Proposed boundary changes

''See

2023 Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies The 2023 Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies is the current cycle of the process to redraw the constituency map for the House of Commons. The process for periodic reviews of parliamentary constituencies in the United Kingdom is gover ...

for further details.'' Following the abandonment of the Sixth Periodic Review (the 2018 review), the

formally launched the 2023 Review on 5 January 2021. Initial proposals were published on 8 June 2021 and, following two periods of public consultation, revised proposals were published on 8 November 2022. Final proposals will be published by 1 July 2023. The commission has proposed retaining the current constituencies in Cornwall, with minor boundary changes to reflect changes to electoral divisions within the county and to bring the electorates within the statutory range.

Results history

''Primary data source:'' House of Commons research briefing - General election results from 1918 to 2019

Vote breakdown

Percentage votes

¹Includes

Constitutionalist Constitutionalism is "a compound of ideas, attitudes, and patterns of behavior elaborating the principle that the authority of government derives from and is limited by a body of fundamental law". Political organizations are constitutional ...

in 1924 and National Liberal Party up to 1966 ²1950-1979 -

Liberal Liberal or liberalism may refer to: Politics * a supporter of liberalism ** Liberalism by country * an adherent of a Liberal Party * Liberalism (international relations) * Sexually liberal feminism * Social liberalism Arts, entertainment and m ...

; 1983 & 1987 - SDP-Liberal Alliance * Included in Other Meaningful vote percentages are not applicable for the elections of 1918, 1922, 1931 and 1935 since one or more seats were gained unopposed.

Seats

¹Includes

in 1924 and National Liberal Party up to 1966 ²pre-1979 -

; 1983 & 1987 - SDP-Liberal Alliance

Maps

File:CornwallParliamentaryConstituency1950Results.svg, 1950 File:CornwallParliamentaryConstituency1950Results.svg, 1951 File:CornwallParliamentaryConstituency1955Results.svg, 1955 File:CornwallParliamentaryConstituency1955Results.svg, 1959 File:CornwallParliamentaryConstituency1964Results.svg, 1964 File:CornwallParliamentaryConstituency1966Results.svg, 1966 File:CornwallParliamentaryConstituency1970Results.svg, 1970 File:CornwallParliamentaryConstituency1974FebResults.svg, 1974 Feb File:CornwallParliamentaryConstituency1974OctResults.svg, 1974 Oct File:CornwallParliamentaryConstituency1979Results.svg, 1979 File:CornwallParliamentaryConstituency1983Results.svg, 1983 File:CornwallParliamentaryConstituency1983Results.svg, 1987 File:CornwallParliamentaryConstituency1992Results.svg, 1992 File:CornwallParliamentaryConstituency1997Results.svg, 1997 File:CornwallParliamentaryConstituency1997Results.svg, 2001 File:CornwallParliamentaryConstituency2005Results.svg, 2005 File:CornwallParliamentaryConstituency2010Results.svg, 2010 File:CornwallParliamentaryConstituency2015Results.svg, 2015 File:CornwallParliamentaryConstituency2015Results.svg, 2017 File:CornwallParliamentaryConstituency2015Results.svg, 2019

Historical representation by party

A cell marked → (with a different colour background to the preceding cell) indicates that the previous MP continued to sit under a new party name.

1832 to 1868 (14 MPs)

1868 to 1885 (13 MPs)

1885 to 1918 (7 MPs)

1918 to 1950 (5 MPs)

1950 to 2010 (5 MPs)

2010 to present (6 MPs)

Notes

References

{{UK constituencies

Cornwall

Parliamentary A parliamentary system, or parliamentarian democracy, is a system of democracy, democratic government, governance of a sovereign state, state (or subordinate entity) where the Executive (government), executive derives its democratic legitimacy ...