Sherwood Forest (UK Parliament constituency)

Template:UK constituency infobox Sherwood is a county constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elects one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first past the post system of election.

Boundaries

The Sherwood constituency covers the central part of Nottinghamshire, covering part of three districts. It is an area of many contrasts such as Ravenshead, home to some of Nottinghamshire's most affluent residents, numerous smaller rural villages and many ex-mining villages and the town of Hucknall, now a commuter town but with a long mining tradition. The largest town is Hucknall in the Ashfield district. It also contains parts of the Gedling district, including Calverton and Ravenshead. The largest geographical area is the western part of the Newark and Sherwood district, including the town of Ollerton and villages of Blidworth, Edwinstowe, Lowdham and Rainworth.

Boundary review

Following their review of parliamentary representation in Nottinghamshire, the Boundary Commission for England have made minor changes to the existing constituency arrangement as a consequence of population changes.

The electoral wards used in the modified Sherwood constituency are:

• From the district of Newark and Sherwood - Bilsthorpe, Blidworth, Boughton, Clipstone, Edwinstone, Farnsfield, Ollerton and Rainworth
• From the district of Ashfield - Hucknall Central, Hucknall East, Hucknall North and Hucknall West
• From the borough of Gedling - Bestwood Village, Calverton, Lambley, Newstead, Ravenshead, and Woodborough

History

The constituency was created in 1983 from parts of the seats of Newark, Carlton, and Ashfield. In that year, local farmer Andy Stewart won the seat for the Conservative Party by just 637 votes - this result was considered an upset in what had hitherto been considered a safe Labour Party area. The Nottinghamshire miners drifted further from the Labour Party during the 1984 strike and Stewart was re-elected to the seat with an increased majority at the 1987 election. At the 1992 election the seat was gained for Labour by Paddy Tipping, who has held it since. Tipping is standing down at the next general election due to ill health.

Members of Parliament

Election		Member	Party
style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" |	1983	Andy Stewart	Conservative
style="background-color: Template:Labour Party (UK)/meta/color" |	1992	Paddy Tipping	Labour

Election results

General Election 2005: Sherwood

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Paddy Tipping	22,824	48.4	−5.8
	Conservative	Bruce Laughton	16,172	34.3	+0.5
	Liberal Democrats	Peter Harris	6,384	13.5	+1.6
	UKIP	Moritz Dawkins	1,737	3.7	N/A
Majority			6,652	14.1
Turnout			47,117	62.8	+2.1
	Labour hold		Swing	−3.1

General Election 2001: Sherwood

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Paddy Tipping	24,900	54.2	−4.3
	Conservative	Brandon Lewis	15,527	33.8	+5.1
	Liberal Democrats	Peter Harris	5,473	11.9	+3.3
Majority			9,373	20.4
Turnout			45,900	60.7	−14.8
	Labour hold		Swing

General Election 1997: Sherwood

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Paddy Tipping	33,071	58.5
	Conservative	Roland Spencer	16,259	28.8
	Liberal Democrats	Bruce Moult	4,889	8.6
	Referendum	L. Slack	1,882	3.3
	BNP	P. Ballard	432	0.8
Majority			16,812
Turnout				75.6
	Labour hold		Swing

General Election 1992: Sherwood

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Paddy Tipping	29,788	47.5
	Conservative	Andrew Stewart	26,878	42.9
	Liberal Democrats	John Howard	6,039	9.6
Majority			2,910
Turnout				85.5
	Labour gain from Conservative		Swing

See also

• List of Parliamentary constituencies in Nottinghamshire