Northampton South is a

constituency 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 (polity), state (a country, administrative region, ...

represented in the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. ...

of the

UK Parliament The Parliament of the United Kingdom is the supreme legislative body of the United Kingdom, the Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories. It meets at the Palace of Westminster, London. It alone possesses legislative supremac ...

since

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 ...

Andrew Lewer Andrew Iain Lewer (born 18 July 1971 in Burnley, Lancashire) is a British Conservative Party politician. Elected as the Member of Parliament for Northampton South in the 2017 general election, he previously served as Member of the European Pa ...

, a

Conservative 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 i ...

History

This constituency was created for the election of

February 1974 The following events occurred in February 1974: February 1, 1974 (Friday) *Joelma fire, A fire killed 177 people and injured 293 others in the 23-story Joelma Building at São Paulo in Brazil. Another 11 later died of their injuries. The bl ...

when the old constituency of Northampton was split into Northampton South and Northampton North. Since creation it is generally a

marginal Marginal may refer to: * ''Marginal'' (album), the third album of the Belgian rock band Dead Man Ray, released in 2001 * ''Marginal'' (manga) * '' El Marginal'', Argentine TV series * Marginal seat or marginal constituency or marginal, in polit ...

and in elections since 1979 but one, in 2005, has been a

bellwether A bellwether is a leader or an indicator of trends.bellwether
" ''Cambridge Dictionary''. Ret ...

, electing an MP from the winning (or largest governing) party. The one-time Deputy Speaker of the House, Michael Morris, a

, held this seat from its creation in 1974 until 1997, when Tony Clarke defeated Morris in a surprise result (one of many in the Labour landslide of that year) to gain the seat for Labour with a majority of just 744. The ''

Almanac of British Politics The ''Almanac of British Politics'' is a reference work which aims to provide a detailed look at the politics of the United Kingdom (UK) through an approach of profiling the social, economic and historical characteristics of each parliamentary cons ...

'' described Labour's gain of the seat as "one of the most unexpected results of the 1997 election", despite the fact that Labour had come close to winning the seat in both 1974 elections. Clarke only just increased his majority in 2001, but Brian Binley defeated Clarke to regain the seat for the Conservatives in 2005 with a comfortable majority, and held it until 2015 when he retired and fellow Conservative David Mackintosh held the seat. Mackintosh retired at the 2017 snap election after just one Parliament, after facing the prospect of being deselected by his local constituency party, and Andrew Lewer took over with a decreased majority from 2015 of over 1,000.

Boundaries

1974–1983: The County Borough of Northampton wards of Castle, Delapre, Duston, St Crispin, South, and Weston. 1983–1997: The Borough of Northampton wards of Billing, Castle, Delapre, Nene Valley, New Duston, Old Duston, St Crispin, South, and Weston, and the District of South Northamptonshire wards of Blisworth, Brafield, Bugbrooke, Cogenhoe, Gayton, Hackleton, Harpole, Heyford, Kislingbury, Milton, Roade, Salcey, and Yardley. 1997–2010: The Borough of Northampton wards of Billing, Castle, Delapre, Nene Valley, New Duston, Old Duston, St Crispin, South, and Weston, and the District of South Northamptonshire wards of Brafield, Cogenhoe, Hackleton, Harpole, Kislingbury, Milton, Roade, Salcey, and Yardley. 2010–present: The Borough of Northampton wards of Billing, Castle, Delapre, Ecton Brook, New Duston, Old Duston, St Crispin, St James, Spencer, and Weston.

South Northamptonshire South Northamptonshire was, from 1974 to 2021, a district in Northamptonshire, England. Its council was based in the town of Towcester, first established as a settlement in Roman Britain. The population of the Local Authority District Council in ...

is the 2010-created constituency in the county which absorbed the southern part of the 1997 version of this constituency. Following the 2010 redistribution, the constituency is once again entirely within the Borough of Northampton as opposed to 1983 to 2010 when it also took in outlying rural parts outside the town.

Constituency profile

The constituency has income,

social housing Public housing is a form of housing tenure in which the property is usually owned by a government authority, either central or local. Although the common goal of public housing is to provide affordable housing, the details, terminology, def ...

and unemployment statistics close to the national average and a varied and dynamic service and engineering-centred economy typical of the

East Midlands The East Midlands is one of nine official regions of England at the first level of ITL for statistical purposes. It comprises the eastern half of the area traditionally known as the Midlands. It consists of Leicestershire, Derbyshire, Li ...

with significant foodstuffs, clothing and consumables manufacturing and processing operations. Health inequality is high, with the life expectancy gap between the least deprived and most deprived men in northampton reaching over 10.2 years. Additionally, the constituency is 'considerably worse than heEngland average' in violent crime, self harm, under 18 conception and GCSE achievement.

Members of Parliament

Elections

Elections in the 2010s

Elections in the 2000s

Elections in the 1990s

Elections in the 1980s

Elections in the 1970s

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Northampton South (Uk Parliament Constituency) Parliamentary constituencies in Northamptonshire Constituencies of the Parliament of the United Kingdom established in 1974 Politics of Northampton