South West Wiltshire 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, ...

A county constituency (for the purposes of election expenses and type of returning officer). represented in the House of Commons 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 ...

Andrew Murrison Andrew William Murrison (born 24 April 1961) is a British doctor, naval officer and politician. A member of the Conservative Party, he has served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for South West Wiltshire, previously Westbury, since the 2001 ...

, a Conservative, since its creation in 2010.As with all constituencies, South West Wiltshire elects one Member of Parliament (MP) by the

first past the post In a first-past-the-post electoral system (FPTP or FPP), formally called single-member plurality voting (SMP) when used in single-member districts or informally choose-one voting in contrast to ranked voting, or score voting, voters cast their ...

system of election at least every five years.

History

The constituency was created for the 2010 general election, following the Fifth Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies tasked to 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 ...

, by which Parliament increased the number of seats in the county from six to seven. The previous Westbury constituency was abolished: the northern part (including the town of Bradford-on-Avon) was transferred to the reinstated

Chippenham Chippenham is a market town A market town is a settlement most common in Europe that obtained by custom or royal charter, in the Middle Ages, a market right, which allowed it to host a regular market; this distinguished it from a village ...

seat, and the southern part (including the towns of Trowbridge,

Warminster Warminster () is an ancient market town with a nearby garrison, and civil parish in south west Wiltshire, England, on the western edge of Salisbury Plain. The parish had a population of about 17,000 in 2011. The 11th-century Minster Church of S ...

, and Westbury) formed the bulk of this constituency, which to complete it, received a minority of wards from the

Salisbury Salisbury ( ) is a cathedral city in Wiltshire, England with a population of 41,820, at the confluence of the rivers Avon, Nadder and Bourne. The city is approximately from Southampton and from Bath. Salisbury is in the southeast of Wil ...

seat.

Boundaries

The former District of West Wiltshire wards of Dilton Marsh, Ethandune, Mid Wylye Valley, Shearwater, Southwick and Wingfield, Summerham, Trowbridge Adcroft, Trowbridge College, Trowbridge Drynham, Trowbridge John of Gaunt, Trowbridge Park, Warminster East, Warminster West, Westbury Ham, and Westbury Laverton, and the former District of Salisbury wards of Donhead, Fonthill and Nadder, Knoyle, Tisbury and Fovant, and Western and Mere.

Constituency profile

As well as the county town of Trowbridge and the former market towns of Westbury and

(the latter with a considerable

Army An army (from Old French ''armee'', itself derived from the Latin verb ''armāre'', meaning "to arm", and related to the Latin noun ''arma'', meaning "arms" or "weapons"), ground force or land force is a fighting force that fights primarily on ...

presence), the seat covers a large rural area with smaller settlements. Residents' health and wealth are around the UK average.Electoral Calculus https://www.electoralcalculus.co.uk/fcgi-bin/seatdetails.py?seat=Wiltshire+South+West

Members of Parliament

Elections

Elections in the 2010s

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:South West Wiltshire (Uk Parliament Constituency) Parliamentary constituencies in South West England Parliamentary constituencies in Wiltshire Constituencies of the Parliament of the United Kingdom established in 2010