Romsey and Southampton North is a constituency 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 suprema ...

since its 2010 creation by Caroline Nokes for the Conservative Party. For the purposes of election expenses and type of returning officer it is a

county constituency 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 " constitue ...

History

Parliament accepted the

Boundary Commission A boundary commission is a legal entity that determines borders of nations, states, constituencies. Notable boundary commissions have included: * Afghan Boundary Commission, an Anglo-Russian Boundary Commission, of 1885 and 1893, delineated the no ...

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 Ir ...

which created this constituency for the 2010 general election primarily as an extended Romsey constituency.

Boundaries

Romsey and Southampton North is formed from electoral wards: *Bassett; and Swaythling in the City of Southampton: *

Abbey An abbey is a type of monastery used by members of a religious order under the governance of an abbot or abbess. Abbeys provide a complex of buildings and land for religious activities, work, and housing of Christian monks and nuns. The con ...

, Ampfield and Braishfield, Blackwater, Broughton and Stockbridge, Chilworth, Nursling and Rownhams, Cupernham, Dun Valley, Harewood, Kings Somborne and Michelmersh, North Baddesley, Over Wallop, Romsey Extra, Tadburn, Valley Park ''in

Test Valley Test Valley is a local government district and borough in Hampshire, England, named after the valley of the River Test. Its council is based in Andover. The borough was formed on 1 April 1974 by a merger of the boroughs of Andover and Romsey, a ...

'' The area includes Stockbridge, which was a

rotten borough A rotten or pocket borough, also known as a nomination borough or proprietorial borough, was a parliamentary borough or constituency in England, Great Britain, or the United Kingdom before the Reform Act 1832, which had a very small electorate ...

(rotten parliamentary borough) until the latter's abolition under the

Great Reform Act The Representation of the People Act 1832 (also known as the 1832 Reform Act, Great Reform Act or First Reform Act) was an Act of Parliament of the United Kingdom (indexed as 2 & 3 Will. IV c. 45) that introduced major changes to the electo ...

of 1832.

Constituency profile

The constituency takes in the bulk of a more affluent and older-population local government district with a fraction of a contrasting district: the net result is a working population whose income is close to the national average and lower than average reliance upon

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, d ...

. At the end of 2012, the unemployment rate in the constituency stood as 1.5% of the population claiming Jobseeker's Allowance, compared to the regional average of 2.4%. The borough contributing to the bulk of the seat has a low 13.5% of its population without a car, 18.4% of the population without qualifications and a high 30.5% with Level 4 qualifications or above. In terms of tenure 70.4% of homes are owned outright or on a mortgage as at the 2011 census in Test Valley district.2011 census interactive maps

Members of Parliament

Elections

Elections in the 2010s

This constituency was contested for the first time at the 2010 general election. Liberal Democrat MP Sandra Gidley had been the MP for the predecessor seat of Romsey since

2000 File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from S ...

References

Sources

Romsey and Southampton North on UKPollingReport
{{DEFAULTSORT:Romsey And Southampton North (Uk Parliament Constituency) Parliamentary constituencies in Hampshire Constituencies of the Parliament of the United Kingdom established in 2010 Politics of Southampton Test Valley