South Holland and The Deepings 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 its 1997 creation, by John Hayes, 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 ...

. At the 2017 general election, the constituency recorded a higher Conservative share of the vote than any constituency since 1970, with 69.9% of voters backing the party. South Holland also delivered the nation's second highest Leave vote in the 2016 referendum on the United Kingdom's membership of the European Union. 73.6% of voters endorsed Britain's withdrawal from the EU, second only to neighbouring

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

. At the 2019 general election, the Conservative majority was 62.7%, the highest of any Conservative in any constituency in any general election since Kensington South in 1955. Hayes took 75.9% of the vote, the third highest for the Conservatives only after

Castle Point Castle Point is a Non-metropolitan district, local government district with Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough status in south Essex, east of central London. The borough comprises the towns and villages of Canvey Island, Hadleigh, Ess ...

Essex Essex () is a county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the River Thames to the south, and G ...

and Boston and Skegness.

Constituency profile

This is a largely rural seat with agriculture, bulb growing and food processing as the main economic activities. Incomes and house prices are below UK averages.

Boundaries

1997–2010: The District of South Holland, with the wards of

Deeping St James Deeping St James is a large village in the South Kesteven Non-metropolitan district, district of Lincolnshire, England. The population of the civil parish (including Frognall) was reported as 7,051 at the 2011 census. History Based around a n ...

Market Deeping Market Deeping is a market town and civil parish in the South Kesteven district of Lincolnshire, England, on the north bank of the River Welland and the A15 road. The population of the town at the 2011 census was 6,008. History The town's mark ...

West Deeping West Deeping is a village and civil parish in the South Kesteven district of Lincolnshire, England. The population of the civil parish at the 2011 census was 255. It is situated on the A1175 road, east from Stamford and west from Market Dee ...

and Truesdale, which are all in the District of

South Kesteven South Kesteven is a Non-metropolitan district, local government district in Lincolnshire, England, forming part of the traditional Kesteven division of the county. It covers Bourne, Lincolnshire, Bourne, Grantham, Market Deeping and Stamford, Li ...

. 2010–present: The District of South Holland, with Deeping St James, Market Deeping and West Deeping. The constituency was created in 1997 from parts of the former seats of

Holland with Boston Holland with Boston was a county constituency represented in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1918 to 1997. It elected one Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), Member of ...

and Stamford and Spalding. It covers the area around Spalding. It roughly corresponds to the local government District of

South Holland South Holland ( nl, Zuid-Holland ) is a province of the Netherlands with a population of over 3.7 million as of October 2021 and a population density of about , making it the country's most populous province and one of the world's most densely ...

, but with

and

added. In minor boundary changes that were put in place for the 2010 general election, parts of the two

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties, or their combined form, the unitary authority ...

es of Baston and Langtoft, forming much of the Truesdale ward, were moved to the neighbouring constituency of Grantham and Stamford. This made

and

the only

parishes A parish is a territorial entity in many Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest, often termed a parish priest, who might be assisted by one or m ...

to stay in the constituency, the remainder being in South Holland District.

History

The last non-Conservative member for the predecessor main seat was Sir Herbert Butcher (served 1937–1966) who for much of that time was in the National Liberal Party set up in 1931. The member from 1966 until 1997 was

Richard Body Sir Richard Bernard Frank Stewart Body (18 May 1927 – 26 February 2018) was an English politician. He was Conservative Member of Parliament for Billericay from 1955 to 1959, for Holland with Boston from 1966 to 1997, and for Boston and Ske ...

for the main contributor seat (in later years as MP, knighted), who had previously been an MP during the Eden government and the start of the Macmillan government for

Billericay Billericay ( ) is a town and civil parish in the Borough of Basildon, Essex, England. It lies within the London Basin and constitutes a commuter town east of Central London. The town has three secondary schools and a variety of open spaces. It is ...

, and later wrote assertive books on

agriculture Agriculture or farming is the practice of cultivating plants and livestock. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that enabled people to ...

and on the

Common Agricultural Policy The Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) is the agricultural policy of the European Union. It implements a system of agricultural subsidies and other programmes. It was introduced in 1962 and has since then undergone several changes to reduce the ...

. In the 2017 general election, the seat returned the highest vote share for the Conservatives nationally at 69.9%. In the 2019 general election, it was an extremely safe Conservative seat. It had the largest percentage majority, third-largest absolute majority, and third-largest Conservative vote share of any seat held by the party; nationally the seat had the eleventh-largest percentage majority of any constituency.

Members of Parliament

Elections

Elections in the 2010s

Elections in the 2000s

Elections in the 1990s

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:South Holland And The Deepings (Uk Parliament Constituency) Parliamentary constituencies in Lincolnshire Constituencies of the Parliament of the United Kingdom established in 1997