Westminster North 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 2010 recreation by

Karen Buck Karen Patricia Buck (born 30 August 1958) is a British politician serving as Member of Parliament (MP) for Westminster North, previously Regent's Park and Kensington North, since 1997. A member of the Labour Party, she was Parliamentary Und ...

, a member of the Labour Party. Its previous 1983 to 1997 existence is also covered by this article.

Constituency profile

Comprising the northwestern part of the City of Westminster, the constituency contains some affluent residential areas that have historically voted Conservative in large numbers, such as Bayswater and the area on the western and northwestern sides of

Regent's Park Regent's Park (officially The Regent's Park) is one of the Royal Parks of London. It occupies of high ground in north-west Inner London, administratively split between the City of Westminster and the Borough of Camden (and historically betwee ...

. Lord's Cricket Ground and the

Abbey Road Studios Abbey Road Studios (formerly EMI Recording Studios) is a recording studio at 3 Abbey Road, St John's Wood, City of Westminster, London, England. It was established in November 1931 by the Gramophone Company, a predecessor of British music c ...

are in the seat, as are the Queen's Park, Church Street, Westbourne Park, and Harrow Road areas, further from central London. However, the seat has mostly been represented at local level by Conservative councillors, via the wards of

Little Venice Little Venice is a district in West London, England, around the junction of the Paddington Arm of the Grand Union Canal, the Regent's Canal, and the entrance to Paddington Basin. The junction forms a triangular shape basin. Many of the buildi ...

, Regent's Park, Abbey Road and Lancaster Gate, while

Maida Vale Maida Vale ( ) is an affluent residential district consisting of the northern part of Paddington in West London, west of St John's Wood and south of Kilburn. It is also the name of its main road, on the continuous Edgware Road. Maida Vale is ...

and Bayswater have had split representation. Reflective of the transport links to the selective professional industries of the

City of London The City of London is a city, ceremonial county and local government district that contains the historic centre and constitutes, alongside Canary Wharf, the primary central business district (CBD) of London. It constituted most of London fr ...

and long-standing desirable housing in this area, workless claimants who were registered jobseekers were in November 2012 lower than the national average of 3.8%, at 2.9% of the population, based on a statistical compilation by ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

''.

History

1983–1997

The seat was created under the Third Periodic Review of constituencies in 1983, which followed the first Boundary Commission Review in 1945, which in turn directly followed the Representation of the People Act 1918 review. It was based largely on

Paddington Paddington is an area within the City of Westminster, in Central London. First a medieval parish then a metropolitan borough, it was integrated with Westminster and Greater London in 1965. Three important landmarks of the district are Paddi ...

but also took in the abolished St Marylebone constituency. ;Political history The seat was held with modest majorities for the first creation, made up of three terms, by John Wheeler, 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 ...

constituency, its main predecessor was often

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 ...

: by length of a single party's representation and by majorities achieved. The far less contributory precursor, St Marylebone, was a Conservative

safe seat A safe seat is an electoral district (constituency) in a legislative body (e.g. Congress, Parliament, City Council) which is regarded as fully secure, for either a certain political party, or the incumbent representative personally or a combinat ...

. The 1997 boundary changes expanded the constituency to the west, taking in Labour-voting areas of north Kensington and tilting the seat towards Labour. Wheeler decided that he did not wish to contest such unfavourable territory and sought selection elsewhere. However he was unsuccessful in finding a new safe seat and thus retired at the 1997 general election.

2010 to date

;Political history The seat was tipped in mainstream newspapers to be likely to achieve the necessary notional swing based on the same area's votes in the previous election, in 2005, to fall to the

candidate; however the seat fell short of the national average swing and was accordingly won by

. The 2015 result gave the seat the 21st most marginal majority of Labour's 232 seats by percentage of majority. In the 2017 general election,

increased her majority over Lindsey Hall, the

Conservative Party The Conservative Party is a name used by many political parties around the world. These political parties are generally right-wing though their exact ideologies can range from center-right to far-right. Political parties called The Conservative P ...

candidate, from 1,977 to 11,512.

Boundaries

The seat has electoral wards: *Abbey Road; Bayswater; Church Street; Harrow Road; Lancaster Gate;

;

; Queen's Park; Regent's Park; and Westbourne ''in the

City of Westminster The City of Westminster is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and London boroughs, borough in Inner London. It is the site of the United Kingdom's Houses of Parliament and much of the British government. It occupies a large area of cent ...

.''

History of boundaries

From 1983 to 1997 the constituency had the wards: *Bayswater; Church Street; Hamilton Terrace; Harrow Road; Lancaster Gate; Little Venice; Lords; Maida Vale; Queen's Park; Regent's Park; and Westbourne. 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 called for the recreation of this constituency for the 2010 general election. This was achieved from parts of two seats: the eastern three quarters of Regent's Park and Kensington North and northern parts of Cities of London and Westminster: *Lancaster Gate ward (that part of Bayswater closest to

Hyde Park Hyde Park may refer to: Places England * Hyde Park, London, a Royal Park in Central London * Hyde Park, Leeds, an inner-city area of north-west Leeds * Hyde Park, Sheffield, district of Sheffield * Hyde Park, in Hyde, Greater Manchester Austra ...

) *A major part of a shared ward next to this, Bayswater *Loss of a minor part of a shared ward, Bryanston and Dorset Square, centred on

Baker Street Baker Street is a street in the Marylebone district of the City of Westminster in London. It is named after builder William Baker, who laid out the street in the 18th century. The street is most famous for its connection to the fictional detec ...

. Population expansion across the former main seat was a factor, including

West Kilburn Kilburn is an area of north west London, England, which spans the boundary of three London Boroughs: Camden to the east, City of Westminster, Brent to the west. There is also an area in the City of Westminster, known as West Kilburn and someti ...

and to a lesser degree in

St John's Wood St John's Wood is a district in the City of Westminster, London, lying 2.5 miles (4 km) northwest of Charing Cross. Traditionally the northern part of the ancient parish and Metropolitan Borough of Marylebone, it extends east to west from ...

, which were retained, as well as in

Notting Hill Notting Hill is a district of West London, England, in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. Notting Hill is known for being a cosmopolitan and multicultural neighbourhood, hosting the annual Notting Hill Carnival and Portobello Road M ...

and

North Kensington North Kensington is an area of west London. It is north of Notting Hill and south of Kensal Green and in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. The names North Kensington and Ladbroke Grove describe the same area. North Kensington is wh ...

, which were therefore removed.

Members of Parliament

Election results

Elections in the 2010s

Elections 1983–1992

Notes

References

External links

Politics Resources
(Election results from 1922 onwards)

(Election results from 1955 onwards) {{Coord, 51.525, -0.180, type:adm2nd_dim:5000_region:GB-WSM, display=title Parliamentary constituencies in London (historic) Parliamentary constituencies in London Constituencies of the Parliament of the United Kingdom established in 1983 Constituencies of the Parliament of the United Kingdom disestablished in 1997 Constituencies of the Parliament of the United Kingdom established in 2010