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Nuneaton 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 (a country, administrative region, or other poli ...
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. T ...
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 suprem ...
since 2010 by Marcus Jones, 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 in ...
. Since
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 ...
, the seat has been seen as an important national
bellwether A bellwether is a leader or an indicator of trends.bellwether
" ''Cambridge Dictionary''. Ret ...
. In the 2015 general election, Nuneaton was the first key marginal seat between the Conservatives and Labour to declare its results. Instead of seeing the predicted victory for Labour,http://lordashcroftpolls.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/NuneatonCX3-March-2015-Full-tables.pdf the seat saw a swing of 3.0% towards the Conservatives which proved to be a big indication that they were heading for victory in the 2015 general election, contrary to prior
opinion poll An opinion poll, often simply referred to as a survey or a poll (although strictly a poll is an actual election) is a human research survey of public opinion from a particular sample. Opinion polls are usually designed to represent the opinion ...
projections.


Boundaries

1885–1918: The Sessional Division of Coventry and part of the Sessional Divisions of Atherstone and Coleshill. 1918–1945: The Municipal Borough of Nuneaton, the Urban District of Bulkington, and the Rural Districts of Atherstone, Coventry, Foleshill, and Nuneaton. 1945–1955: The Municipal Borough of Nuneaton, the Urban District of Bedworth, and the Rural District of Atherstone. 1955–1974: The Municipal Borough of Nuneaton, and the Urban District of Bedworth. 1974–1983: The Municipal Borough of Nuneaton, and the Urban District of Bedworth as altered by the Coventry Order 1965. 1983–2010: The Borough of Nuneaton and Bedworth wards of Abbey, Arbury, Attleborough, Bulkington, Camp Hill, Chilvers Coton, Galley Common, St Nicolas, Stockingford, Weddington, and Whitestone, and the Borough of Rugby wards of Earl Craven, Fosse, and Wolvey. 2010–present: The Borough of Nuneaton and Bedworth wards of Abbey, Arbury, Attleborough, Bar Pool, Camp Hill, Galley Common, Kingswood, St Nicolas, Weddington, Wem Brook, and Whitestone, and the Borough of North Warwickshire wards of Arley and Whitacre, and Hartshill. The boundary changes which took effect for the 1983 general election removed the town of Bedworth, which was transferred to the newly created
North Warwickshire North Warwickshire is a local government district with borough status in the ceremonial county of Warwickshire, West Midlands, England. Outlying settlements in the borough include the two towns of Atherstone (where the council is based) and ...
constituency. As a result, the sitting MP Les Huckfield declined to stand and unsuccessfully sought nomination in other constituencies such as
Wigan Wigan ( ) is a large town in Greater Manchester, England, on the River Douglas. The town is midway between the two cities of Manchester, to the south-east, and Liverpool, to the south-west. Bolton lies to the north-east and Warrington ...
and Sedgefield.


History

The constituency was created as a result of the
Redistribution of Seats Act 1885 The Redistribution of Seats Act 1885 (48 & 49 Vict., c. 23) was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It was a piece of electoral reform legislation that redistributed the seats in the House of Commons, introducing the concept of equal ...
, in an area whose population had expanded as coal miners poured in from other parts of the country. At one time 20 collieries operated in the area and now one of three major British coal mines continued with operations in the constituency at Daw Mill atop the
Warwickshire Coalfield The Warwickshire Coalfield extends between Warwick and Tamworth in the English Midlands. It is about from north to south and its width is around half that distance. Its western margin is defined by the 'Western Boundary Fault'. In the northeast ...
(known as the Warwickshire Thick) in the north of the county until 2012 when it closed. The associated heavy industry and mining-centred economy coupled with the
Representation of the People Act 1918 The Representation of the People Act 1918 was an Act of Parliament passed to reform the electoral system in Great Britain and Ireland. It is sometimes known as the Fourth Reform Act. The Act extended the franchise in parliamentary elections, al ...
(Fourth Reform Act) led to Nuneaton being held by the Labour Party for nearly 50 years until lost in the 1983 Conservative Landslide to
Lewis Stevens Lewis David Stevens (13 April 1936 – 15 January 2023) was a British Conservative Party politician. Stevens was educated at Oldbury Grammar School, the University of Liverpool, and Lanchester College, Coventry. He carried out national se ...
, 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 in ...
who retained the seat in 1987. Labour regained the constituency at the 1992 election.
Bill Olner William John Olner (9 May 1942 – 18 May 2020) was a British Labour Co-operative politician who served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Nuneaton from 1992 until 2010. Previously, he led Nuneaton Borough Council (which later merged with Bedw ...
beat Stevens and retained the seat in 1997, 2001 and 2005. Olner announced in 2007 that he would not be contesting the 2010 general election and would be standing down at the end of the 2005–2010 parliament. Former Nuneaton and Bedworth Council Leader Marcus Jones was successful in taking the seat for the Conservative Party at the 2010 election and retained the seat in 2015, 2017 and 2019.


2015 general election significance

In the 2015 general election, Nuneaton was the first marginal constituency between the Conservatives and Labour to declare its results. The result proved to be significant as it saw a 3.0% swing to the Conservatives, despite the seat being Labour's 38th biggest target and Labour being predicted to win the seat. The result therefore proved to be a major indication that the Conservatives were going to win a majority of seats in the House of Commons for the first time since the 1992 general election, something which went against national opinion polls which pointed towards Labour gains in the key marginal constituencies. It was later reported that the moment incumbent Prime Minister
David Cameron David William Donald Cameron (born 9 October 1966) is a British former politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2010 to 2016 and Leader of the Conservative Party from 2005 to 2016. He previously served as Leader o ...
knew his Conservative Party had won the general election was when Nuneaton declared its results at 1.53 am on 8 May 2015. This has led to many pointing out the similarities between Nuneaton and the former constituency of Basildon which in 1987 and 1992, Labour unexpectedly failed to win. This is why the Nuneaton result has been seen as the 'Basildon Moment' of 2015, since the Basildon constituency similarly foreshadowed the Conservative's election victory in 1992. Nuneaton was chosen by the Labour Party as the host of their first televised leadership debate during their 2015 leadership election.


Members of Parliament


Elections


Elections in the 2010s


Elections in the 2000s


Elections in the 1990s


Elections in the 1980s


Elections in the 1970s


Elections in the 1960s


Elections in the 1950s


Elections in the 1940s

General Election 1939–40: Another general election was required to take place before the end of 1940. The political parties had been making preparations for an election to take place from 1939 and by the end of this year, the following candidates had been selected; *Labour: Reginald Fletcher


Elections in the 1930s


Elections in the 1920s


Elections in the 1910s

* denotes candidate who was endorsed by the Coalition Government.


Election results 1885-1918


Elections in the 1880s


Elections in the 1890s


Elections in the 1900s


Elections in the 1910s

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 July 1914, the following candidates had been selected; *Liberal-Labour: William Johnson *Unionist:


See also

*
List of parliamentary constituencies in Warwickshire Until 2010, the county of Warwickshire was divided into 5 parliamentary constituencies - they were all county constituencies. Now it has six parliamentary constituencies - 5 county constituencies and 1 borough constituency. Constituencies ...


References

;Specific ;General Craig, F. W. S. (1983). British parliamentary election results 1918-1949 (3 ed.). Chichester: Parliamentary Research Services. .


Notes

;Notes


External links


Nuneaton Labour, Jayne InnesNuneaton Conservatives
{{DEFAULTSORT:Nuneaton (Uk Parliament Constituency) Nuneaton Parliamentary constituencies in Warwickshire Constituencies of the Parliament of the United Kingdom established in 1885