Hertford and Stortford (UK Parliament constituency)

Hertford and Stortford
Hertford and Stortford
County constituency; for the House of Commons
	Boundary of Hertford and Stortford in Hertfordshire
	Location of Hertfordshire within England
County	Hertfordshire
Electorate	79,255 (December 2010)
Major settlements	Hertford, Bishop's Stortford, Ware
Current constituency
Created	1983
Member of Parliament	Julie Marson (Conservative)
Number of members	One
Created from	Hertfordshire East and Hertford and Stevenage

Hertford and Stortford is a constituency^{[n 1]} currently represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament by Julie Marson of the Conservative Party.^{[n 2]}

Description[]

The constituency is semi-rural which includes picturesque villages and farmland separating the county town of Hertford, population 25,000, which is architecturally rich.^[3] The rivers Rib, Beane, Mimram, and Lea all meet in Hertford, which is protected from over development by Green Belt land which encircles the town separating it from its neighbour Ware (17,000) in the western part of the constituency. Farms continue between Ware and the ancient market town of Bishop's Stortford with a population of more than 32,000 people in the north east corner of the seat. Bishop's Stortford has developed into a popular area for commuters, with rail links to London's Liverpool Street station. Thorley on the south side of Stortford, contains a huge residential estate of owner occupied houses built mainly in the 1980s. The constituency is affluent, having a majority of professional and managerial workers as it is within commuting distance of London. Stansted Airport, which lies just outside the seat's eastern perimeter has been responsible for bringing jobs and an improved train service to the constituency. The pharmaceutical industry is also an important provider of jobs - GlaxoSmithKline has facilities in Ware and nearby Harlow, and Merck was based until recently at Gilston on the seat's southern border. London is within commuting distance with trains to the City running from all the towns in the constituency.

Boundaries and boundary changes[]

Map of current boundaries

1983–1997: The District of East Hertfordshire wards of Bishop's Stortford Central, Bishop's Stortford Chantry, Bishop's Stortford Parsonage, Bishop's Stortford Thorley, Braughing, Buntingford, Hertford Bengeo, Hertford Castle, Hertford Kingsmead, Hertford Sele, Hunsdon, Little Hadham, Much Hadham, Sawbridgeworth, Standon St Mary, Stapleford, Tewin, Thundridge, Ware Christchurch, Ware Priory, Ware St Mary's, and Ware Trinity.^[4]

New County Constituency including Hertford and Ware, previously part of the abolished County Constituency of Hertford and Stevenage, and Bishop's Stortford and Sawbridgeworth together with rural areas to the west, previously part of the abolished County Constituency of East Hertfordshire.

1997–2010: The District of East Hertfordshire wards of Bishop's Stortford Central, Bishop's Stortford Chantry, Bishop's Stortford Parsonage, Bishop's Stortford Thorley, Great Amwell, Hertford Bengeo, Hertford Castle, Hertford Kingsmead, Hertford Sele, Hunsdon, Little Amwell, Much Hadham, Sawbridgeworth, Stanstead, Ware Christchurch, Ware Priory, Ware St Mary's, and Ware Trinity.^[5]

Stanstead Abbotts and Great Amwell transferred from Broxbourne. Northern, rural areas transferred to the new County Constituency of North East Hertfordshire.

2010–present: The District of East Hertfordshire wards of Bishop's Stortford All Saints, Bishop's Stortford Central, Bishop's Stortford Meads, Bishop's Stortford Silverleys, Bishop's Stortford South, Great Amwell, Hertford Bengeo, Hertford Castle, Hertford Heath, Hertford Kingsmead, Hertford Sele, Hunsdon, Much Hadham, Sawbridgeworth, Stanstead Abbots, Ware Chadwell, Ware Christchurch, Ware St Mary's, and Ware Trinity.^[6]

Marginal changes due to revision of local authority wards.

Members of Parliament[]

Election	Member^[7]
1983	Bowen Wells	Conservative
2001	Mark Prisk	Conservative
2019	Julie Marson	Conservative

Elections[]

Elections in the 2010s[]

General election 2019: Hertford and Stortford^[8]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Julie Marson	33,712	56.1	4.2
	Labour	Chris Vince	14,092	23.4	5.2
	Liberal Democrats	Chris Lucas	8,596	14.3	6.2
	Green	Lucy Downes	2,705	4.5	1.5
	UKIP	Alistair Lindsay	681	1.1	New
	Independent	Brian Percival	308	0.5	New
Majority			19,620	32.7	1.0
Turnout			60,094	72.9	0.1
	Conservative hold		Swing	0.5

General election 2017: Hertford and Stortford^[9]^[10]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Mark Prisk	36,184	60.3	4.2
	Labour	Katherine Chibah	17,149	28.6	10.7
	Liberal Democrats	Mark Argent	4,845	8.1	0.3
	Green	David Woollcombe	1,814	3.0	1.8
Majority			19,035	31.7	6.5
Turnout			59,992	72.8	1.5
	Conservative hold		Swing	3.25

General election 2015: Hertford and Stortford^[11]^[12]^[13]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Mark Prisk	31,593	56.1	2.3
	Labour	Katherine Chibah	10,084	17.9	4.1
	UKIP	Adrian Baker	7,534	13.4	10.3
	Liberal Democrats	Michael Green	4,385	7.8	18.2
	Green	Sophie Christophy	2,681	4.8	New
Majority			21,509	38.2	10.4
Turnout			56,277	71.3	0.7
	Conservative hold		Swing	1.0

General election 2010: Hertford and Stortford^[14]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Mark Prisk	29,810	53.8	3.6
	Liberal Democrats	Andrew Lewin	14,373	26.0	7.5
	Labour	Stephen Terry	7,620	13.8	10.5
	UKIP	David Sodey	1,716	3.1	1.0
	BNP	Roy Harris	1,297	2.3	New
	Independent	Loucas Xenophontos	325	0.6	New
	Independent	Martin Adams	236	0.4	New
Majority			15,437	27.8	1.4
Turnout			55,377	70.6	4.1
	Conservative hold		Swing	1.9

Elections in the 2000s[]

General election 2005: Hertford and Stortford
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Mark Prisk	25,074	50.5	+5.8
	Labour	Richard Henry	11,977	24.1	−8.7
	Liberal Democrats	James Lucas	9,129	18.4	−1.5
	Green	Peter Hart	1,914	3.9	New
	UKIP	David Sodey	1,026	2.1	−0.5
	Veritas	Debbie Le May	572	1.2	New
Majority			13,097	26.4	+14.5
Turnout			49,692	67.7	+5.5
	Conservative hold		Swing	+7.2

General election 2001: Hertford and Stortford
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Mark Prisk	21,074	44.7	+0.6
	Labour	Simon Spellar	15,471	32.8	+1.4
	Liberal Democrats	Mione Goldspink	9,388	19.9	+2.2
	UKIP	Stuart Rising	1,243	2.6	+0.4
Majority			5,603	11.9	-0.8
Turnout			47,176	62.2	-13.3
	Conservative hold		Swing

Elections in the 1990s[]

General election 1997: Hertford and Stortford
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Conservative	Bowen Wells	24,027	44.1
	Labour	Simon Spellar	17,142	31.4
	Liberal Democrats	Michael Wood	9,679	17.7
	Referendum	Hugo Page Croft	2,105	3.9
	UKIP	B G Smalley	1,233	2.2
	ProLife Alliance	Michael Franey	259	0.5
Majority			6,885	12.7
Turnout			54,571	75.5
	Conservative hold		Swing

General election 1992: Hertford and Stortford^[15]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Bowen Wells	35,716	57.5	0.0
	Liberal Democrats	CJ White	15,506	25.0	−3.3
	Labour	AJ Bovaird	10,125	16.3	+3.5
	Green	JA Goth	780	1.3	−0.1
Majority			20,210	32.5	+3.3
Turnout			62,127	81.0	+3.3
	Conservative hold		Swing	+1.7

Elections in the 1980s[]

General election 1987: Hertford and Stortford
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Bowen Wells	33,763	57.52
	SDP	Ronald Wotherspoon	16,623	28.32
	Labour	Patricia Sumner	7,494	12.77
	Green	Graham Cole	814	1.39	New
Majority			17,140	29.20
Turnout			58,694	77.73
	Conservative hold		Swing

General election 1983: Hertford and Stortford
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Conservative	Bowen Wells	29,039	55.98
	SDP	Ronald Wotherspoon	16,110	31.05
	Labour	J Carr	6,203	11.96
	BNP	G Wiles	304	0.59
	Prosperity For All	P Cullen	221	0.4
Majority			12,929	24.92
Turnout			51,877	75.6
	Conservative win (new seat)

Notes and references[]

Notes

^ A county constituency (for the purposes of election expenses and type of returning officer)
^ As with all constituencies, the constituency elects one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first past the post system of election at least every five years.

References

^ "Electorate Figures - Boundary Commission for England". 2011 Electorate Figures. Boundary Commission for England. 4 March 2011. Archived from the original on 6 November 2010. Retrieved 13 March 2011.
^ "'Hertford and Stortford', June 1983 up to May 1997". ElectionWeb Project. Cognitive Computing Limited. Retrieved 11 March 2016.
^ [1]Ordnance Survey map, courtesy of English Heritage Archived 2012-04-24 at the Wayback Machine
^ "The Parliamentary Constituencies (England) Order 1983". www.legislation.gov.uk. Retrieved 2019-02-25.
^ "The Parliamentary Constituencies (England) Order 1995". www.legislation.gov.uk. Retrieved 2019-02-25.
^ "The Parliamentary Constituencies (England) Order 2007". www.legislation.gov.uk. Retrieved 2019-02-25.
^ Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "H" (part 3)
^ https://eastherts.fra1.digitaloceanspaces.com/s3fs-public/2019-11/Statement%20of%20Persons%20Nominated,%20%20Notice%20of%20Poll%20and%20Situation%20of%20Polling%20Stations%20Hertford%20and%20Stortford%20Parliamentary.pdf
^ "Hertford and Stortford General Election candidate for the Liberal Democrats will be Mark Argent". Hertfordshire Mercury. 19 April 2017. Retrieved 3 May 2017.
^ "Hertford & Stortford parliamentary constituency - Election 2017" – via www.bbc.co.uk.
^ "Election Data 2015". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 17 October 2015. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
^ "General Election: Mark Prisk wins fourth term as Hertford and Stortford MP". Herts & Essex Observer.
^ "Hertford & Stortford". bbc.co.uk.
^ "Election Data 2010". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 26 July 2013. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
^ "UK General Election results April 1992". Richard Kimber's Political Science Resources. Politics Resources. 9 April 1992. Archived from the original on 11 August 2011. Retrieved 2010-12-06.

Coordinates: 51°49′N 0°01′E / 51.817°N 0.017°E / 51.817; 0.017

[3] A county constituency (for the purposes of election expenses and type of returning officer)

[4] As with all constituencies, the constituency elects one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first past the post system of election at least every five years.

[1] "Electorate Figures - Boundary Commission for England". 2011 Electorate Figures. Boundary Commission for England. 4 March 2011. Archived from the original on 6 November 2010. Retrieved 13 March 2011.

[ElectionWeb83-2] "'Hertford and Stortford', June 1983 up to May 1997". ElectionWeb Project. Cognitive Computing Limited. Retrieved 11 March 2016.

[5] [1]Ordnance Survey map, courtesy of English Heritage Archived 2012-04-24 at the Wayback Machine

[6] "The Parliamentary Constituencies (England) Order 1983". www.legislation.gov.uk. Retrieved 2019-02-25.

[7] "The Parliamentary Constituencies (England) Order 1995". www.legislation.gov.uk. Retrieved 2019-02-25.

[8] "The Parliamentary Constituencies (England) Order 2007". www.legislation.gov.uk. Retrieved 2019-02-25.

[rayment-9] Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "H" (part 3)

[Statement_of_persons_nominated-10] ttps://eastherts.fra1.digitaloceanspaces.com/s3fs-public/2019-11/Statement%20of%20Persons%20Nominated,%20%20Notice%20of%20Poll%20and%20Situation%20of%20Polling%20Stations%20Hertford%20and%20Stortford%20Parliamentary.pdf

[Herts_Merc_LibDem_Con-11] "Hertford and Stortford General Election candidate for the Liberal Democrats will be Mark Argent". Hertfordshire Mercury. 19 April 2017. Retrieved 3 May 2017.

[12] "Hertford & Stortford parliamentary constituency - Election 2017" – via www.bbc.co.uk.

[electoralcalculus-13] "Election Data 2015". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 17 October 2015. Retrieved 17 October 2015.

[14] "General Election: Mark Prisk wins fourth term as Hertford and Stortford MP". Herts & Essex Observer.

[BBC_Hertford_and_Stortford-15] "Hertford & Stortford". bbc.co.uk.

[electoralcalculus2010-16] "Election Data 2010". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 26 July 2013. Retrieved 17 October 2015.

[17] "UK General Election results April 1992". Richard Kimber's Political Science Resources. Politics Resources. 9 April 1992. Archived from the original on 11 August 2011. Retrieved 2010-12-06.

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