North Bedfordshire (UK Parliament constituency)

North Bedfordshire
North Bedfordshire
Former County constituency; for the House of Commons
	Boundary of North Bedfordshire in Bedfordshire for the 1992 general election
	Location of Bedfordshire within England
County	Bedfordshire
Major settlements	Bedford
1983–1997
Number of members	One
Replaced by	Bedford, Bedfordshire North East
Created from	Bedford

North Bedfordshire was a county constituency in Bedfordshire. It returned one Member of Parliament (MP) to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, elected by the first-past-the-post voting system.

The constituency was created for the 1983 general election, and abolished for the 1997 general election.

History[]

This safe Conservative seat was held for its entire existence by Trevor Skeet who had been the MP for Bedford since 1970.

Boundaries[]

The Borough of North Bedfordshire wards of Brickhill, Bromham, Carlton, Castle, Cauldwell, Clapham, De Parys, Felmersham, Goldington, Harpur, Harrold, Kingsbrook, Newnham, Oakley, Putnoe, Queens Park, Renhold, Riseley, Roxton, and Sharnbrook.

The territory the seat covered was virtually the same as the county constituency of Bedford which it replaced. This included the town of Bedford itself. In 1997, the constituency was abolished, being dispersed on a roughly seven to three ratio between the new constituencies of Bedford and Bedfordshire North East, with 17 electors being transferred to Huntingdon.^[1]

Members of Parliament[]

Election		Member^[2]	Party
	1983	Trevor Skeet	Conservative
	1997	constituency abolished

Elections[]

Elections in the 1980s[]

General election 1983: North Bedfordshire^[3]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Conservative	Trevor Skeet	27,969	52.03
	Liberal	BK Gibbons	14,120	26.27
	Labour	P Healy	11,323	21.06
	Independent	NJ Hughes	344	0.64
Majority			13,849	25.76
Turnout			53,756	75.19
	Conservative win (new seat)

General election 1987: North Bedfordshire^[4]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Trevor Skeet	29,845	52.58
	Liberal	Janice Lennon	13,340	23.50
	Labour	Carl Henderson	13,140	23.15
	OOBPC	Crispin Slee	435	0.77	New
Majority			16,505	29.08
Turnout			56,760	77.19
	Conservative hold		Swing

Election in the 1990s[]

General election 1992: North Bedfordshire^[5]^[6]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Trevor Skeet	29,970	50.7	−1.9
	Labour	Patrick Hall	18,302	31.0	+7.9
	Liberal Democrats	Mike Smithson	10,014	16.9	−6.6
	Green	Louise Smith	643	1.1	New
	Natural Law	Bernard H. Bence	178	0.3	New
Majority			11,668	19.7	−9.4
Turnout			59,107	80.1	+2.9
	Conservative hold		Swing	−4.8

Notes and references[]

^ "Media Guide to the New Parliamentary Constituencies", BBC/ITN/PA News/Sky, 1995, p. 191.
^ Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "B" (part 2)
^ "Election Data 1983". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 28 June 2017.
^ "Election Data 1987". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 28 June 2017.
^ "Election Data 1992". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 28 June 2017.
^ "Politics Resources". Election 1992. Politics Resources. 9 April 1992. Archived from the original on 24 July 2011. Retrieved 6 December 2010.

[1] "Media Guide to the New Parliamentary Constituencies", BBC/ITN/PA News/Sky, 1995, p. 191.

[2] Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "B" (part 2)

[electoralcalculus1983-3] "Election Data 1983". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 28 June 2017.

[electoralcalculus1987-4] "Election Data 1987". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 28 June 2017.

[electoralcalculus1992-5] "Election Data 1992". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 28 June 2017.

[6] "Politics Resources". Election 1992. Politics Resources. 9 April 1992. Archived from the original on 24 July 2011. Retrieved 6 December 2010.

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