Tunbridge Wells (UK Parliament constituency)

Template:UK constituency infobox Tunbridge Wells is a parliamentary constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom.

Boundaries

It is located in the west of the county of Kent in south eastern England and covers the area of Tunbridge Wells borough.

Boundary review

Following their review of parliamentary representation in Kent, the Boundary Commission for England has made major changes to the existing constituency arrangement as a consequence of population changes across the county.

The electoral wards used in the formation of the modified Tunbridge Wells constituency are;

• Brenchley and Horsmonden, Broadwater, Capel, Culverden, Goudhurst and Lamberhurst, Hawkhurst and Sandhurst, Paddock Wood East, Paddock Wood West, Pantiles and St Mark’s, Park, Pembury, Rusthall, St James’, St John’s, Sherwood, Southborough and High Brooms, Southborough North, and Speldhurst and Bidborough

History

The constituency was created in 1974 from parts of the seats of Tonbridge & Ashford, and was orginally named "Royal Tunbridge Wells". It consisted of the following areas of the administrative county of Kent:

• The borough of Royal Tunbridge Wells;
• The urban district of Southborough;
• The rural district of Cranbrook;
• Part of the rural district of Tonbridge (the parishes of Bidborough, Brenchley, Capel, Horsmonden, Lamberhurst, Paddock Wood, Pembury and Speldhurst)

Except for Cranbrook Rural District (previously part of the Ashford constituency) the area had formed part of the constituency of Tonbridge prior to 1974.

In 1983 the "Royal" prefix was removed, and the boundaries of the constituency were realigned to coincide with the Borough of Tunbridge Wells created by the Local Government Act 1972.

The area is rural with strong Conservative support although there is a degree of light engineering too and many locals commute to London. In 1994 the Conservative group in the council surprisingly lost control but has since regained it.

Members of Parliament

• Constituency created (1974)

Election		Member	Party
	Feb. 1974	Patrick Mayhew	Conservative
	1997	Archie Norman	Conservative
	2005	Greg Clark	Conservative

Elections

Next United Kingdom general election: Tunbridge Wells

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Green	Steve Dawe
	UKIP	Victor Webb
	BNP	Adam Champneys

General Election 2005: Tunbridge Wells

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Greg Clark	21,083	49.6	+0.7
	Liberal Democrats	Laura Murphy	11,095	26.1	+1.4
	Labour	Jacqui Jedrzejewski	8,736	20.6	−2.6
	UKIP	Victor Webb	1,568	3.7	+0.4
Majority			9,988	23.5
Turnout			42,482	65.7	3.4
	Conservative hold		Swing	+0.3

General Election 2001: Tunbridge Wells

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Archie Norman	19,643	48.9	+3.7
	Liberal Democrats	Keith Brown	9,913	24.7	−5.0
	Labour	Ian Carvell	9,332	23.2	+2.8
	UKIP	Victor Webb	1,313	3.3	+2.7
Majority			9,730	24.2
Turnout			40,201	62.3	−11.8
	Conservative hold		Swing

See also

• List of Parliamentary constituencies in Kent