St Albans is a constituency[n 1] represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2019 by Daisy Cooper, a Liberal Democrat.[n 2]
This article also describes the parliamentary borough (1554-1852) of the same name, consisting only of the city of St Albans, which elected two MPs by the bloc vote system.
The Parliamentary Borough of St Albans was represented by two MPs for over 300 years, until it was disenfranchised as a result of electoral corruption in 1852.[2]
The constituency was re-established in an enlarged form by the Redistribution of Seats Act 1885 (which followed on from the Third Reform Act) as one of four Divisions of the abolished three-member Parliamentary County of Hertfordshire, and was formally named as the Mid or St Albans Division of Hertfordshire.
1885 to date[]
Results of all deposit-keeping candidates since 1983 in their bid be the MP for St Albans (UK House of Commons).
Political history before 1997
Until 1997 the seat was held by one Conservative or another save for the very early 20th century Official Opposition leadership of Henry Campbell-Bannerman and the follow-on first part of his premiership, governing in minority, and later – from 1945 – five of the six years seeing Labour's landslide Attlee ministry.
Political history since 1997
The seat swung towards the left wing on boundary changes effective in 1997, and the founding of the New Labour movement which sought public sector reform and investment with expansion based on international investor-friendly economic growth. The seat followed its projections in line with the large swing led by Tony Blair, to sees its return to a Labour politician. Results, except for a strong Tory surge in 2015 are closer than the 1979–1992 Tory victories forming a complex three-party contest – only once another candidate in this time has reached the deposit (politics)-retaining threshold of 5% of the vote, UKIP at its 2015 peak.
Despite the former Labour MP for the seat, Kerry Pollard, standing there in 2005, 2015 and 2017, he fell varyingly short. The 2019 vote share fell to below that seen in the 1980s, locally, for the party's candidate – the party leader was to the left of the party, Jeremy Corbyn.
The seat has had great fluctuation in Liberal Democrat vote share: 2001 and 2015 were ebbs at below 20% of the vote; in 2010 and 2017 the Liberal Democrat candidate, promisingly, took 4.4% and 10.7% less than the winning Conservative. Liberal Democrat Daisy Cooper went on to win, in 2019. She became first member of a liberal party to represent the constituency since John Bamford Slack in early 1900s.
Prominent members[]
The noble and local landowning Grimston family have produced nine members throughout the seat's history. The three first heirs to the Earldom of Verulam have won election in the seat - the latest MP from the family was John Grimston who later became the 6th Earl (died 1973).
Sir Hildred Carlile (died 1942) was a textiles entrepreneur and generous benefactor of Bedford College, University of London.
Francis Fremantle was chairman of the Parliamentary Medical Committee from 1923 to 1943.
Peter Lilley was a frontbench minister in government from 1992 until 1997, the Secretary of State for Social Security, after two years as Secretary of State for Trade and Industry.
Constituency profile[]
Workless claimants (registered jobseekers) were in November 2012 significantly lower than the national average of 3.8%, at 1.9% of the population based on a statistical compilation by The Guardian.[3] The seat voted decisively to remain in the European Union in the 2016 Referendum, estimated at 62.2%.
Boundary changes[]
Map of current boundaries
1885–1918: The Municipal Borough of St Albans, the Sessional Divisions of Barnet and St Albans and parts of the Sessional Divisions of Watford, Hertford and Dacorum.[4]
As well from the Borough of St Albans, the seat included the towns of Harpenden, Hatfield and Chipping Barnet.
1918–1945: The Municipal Borough of St Albans, the Urban Districts of Barnet and East Barnet Valley, the Rural Districts of Barnet and Hatfield, and the Rural District of St Albans civil parishes of Sandridge Rural, St Michael Rural, St Peter Rural, and St Stephen.[5]
North-western parts, including Harpenden, transferred to the new Hemel Hempstead Division. South-western corner (Aldenham) transferred to Watford.
1945–1950: The Municipal Borough of St Albans, the Urban District of Welwyn Garden City, the Rural District of Hatfield, and the Rural District of St Albans civil parishes of Sandridge Rural, St Michael Rural, St Peter Rural, and St Stephen.[6]
The Urban Districts of Barnet and East Barnet (formerly East Barnet Valley) and the Rural District of Elstree (formerly Barnet) formed the new Barnet Division. The Urban District of Welwyn Garden City had been formed as a separate local authority which had previously been partly in the Hitchin Division. Other marginal changes as a result of changes to local authority boundaries.
1950–1955: The Municipal Borough of St Albans, the Urban District of Welwyn Garden City, the Rural District of Welwyn, and the Rural District of St Albans civil parishes of Sandridge Rural, St Michael Rural, St Peter Rural, St Stephen, and Wheathampstead.[7]
The Rural District of Welwyn was transferred from Hitchin and the parish of Wheathampstead from Hemel Hempstead. The Rural District of Hatfield was transferred to Barnet.
1955–1974: The Municipal Borough of St Albans, and in the Rural District of St Albans the civil parishes of Colney Heath, London Colney, Sandridge Rural, St Michael Rural, St Stephen, and Wheathampstead.
The Urban District of Welwyn Garden City and the Rural District of Welwyn transferred to Hertford. (The parish of St Peter Rural had been divided into the parishes of Colney Heath and London Colney).
1974–1983: The Municipal Borough of St Albans, the Urban District of Harpenden, and in the Rural District of St Albans the civil parishes of Harpenden Rural, Redbourn, St Michael Rural, Sandridge, and Wheathampstead.[8]
The limits moved northwards: to take in Harpenden U.D. and parishes Harpenden Rural and Redbourn, from Hemel Hempstead. The parishes of Colney Heath, London Colney and St Stephen were removed to help constitute South Hertfordshire.
1983–1997: The District of St Albans wards of Ashley, Batchwood, Clarence, Colney Heath, Cunningham, Harpenden East, Harpenden North, Harpenden South, Harpenden West, Marshalswick North, Marshalswick South, Redbourn, St Peter's, Sandridge, Sopwell, and Verulam.[9]
Minor changes. Colney Heath transferred from abolished South Hertfordshire. Wheathampstead transferred to Welwyn Hatfield.
1997–2010: The District of St Albans wards of Ashley, Batchwood, Clarence, Colney Heath, Cunningham, London Colney, Marshalswick North, Marshalswick South, Park Street, St Peter's, St Stephen's, Sopwell, and Verulam, and the District of Three Rivers ward of Bedmond.[10]
Moved southwards again, gaining London Colney from Hertsmere, Park Street and St Stephen's from Watford and the Three Rivers District ward of Bedmond from South West Hertfordshire. Northern parts, including Harpenden, formed part of the new County Constituency of Hitchin and Harpenden.
2010–present: The City of St Albans wards of Ashley, Batchwood, Clarence, Colney Heath, Cunningham, London Colney, Marshalswick North, Marshalswick South, Park Street, St Peter's, St Stephen, Sopwell, and Verulam, and the Three Rivers District ward of Bedmond and Primrose Hill.[11]
Marginal adjustments to bring the parliamentary boundaries in line with those of local government wards, which had changed since the 1995 review.[12]
The seat is in Hertfordshire, England. Specifically, it comprises the cathedralcity of St Albans and some of the surrounding countryside, mainly to the south of the city.
On 3 May 1852, the borough was disenfranchised after a Royal Commission found proof of extensive bribery. The electorate was incorporated into Hertfordshire.[69]
^A borough constituency (for the purposes of election expenses and type of returning officer)
^As with all constituencies, its registered electors elect one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first past the post system of election at least every five years.
^Great Britain, Incorporated Council of Law Reporting for England and Wales. The public general acts. unknown library. Proprietors of the Law Journal Reports, 1884.
^ ab"Elections Decided". Manchester Courier and Lancashire General Advertiser. 10 July 1841. p. 6. Retrieved 30 November 2018 – via British Newspaper Archive.
^ ab"Newry Telegraph". 3 July 1841. p. 3. Retrieved 30 November 2018 – via British Newspaper Archive.
^ abcdefghijCraig, F. W. S. (1989) [1974]. British parliamentary election results 1885–1918 (2nd ed.). Chichester: Parliamentary Research Services. p. 297. ISBN0-900178-27-2.
^ abcdefghijkCraig, F. W. S. (1983) [1969]. British parliamentary election results 1918–1949 (3rd ed.). Chichester: Parliamentary Research Services. p. 375. ISBN0-900178-06-X.
^New M.P. For St. Albans, The Times, October 06, 1943
^ abcdefghiCraig, F. W. S., ed. (1977). British Parliamentary Election Results 1832-1885(e-book)|format= requires |url= (help) (1st ed.). London: Macmillan Press. p. 261. ISBN978-1-349-02349-3.
^"Wilks and Independence". Hertford Mercury and Reformer. 24 July 1847. p. 1. Retrieved 30 November 2018 – via British Newspaper Archive.
^"St Albans". Bedfordshire Mercury. 31 July 1847. p. 3. Retrieved 30 November 2018 – via British Newspaper Archive.
^"Page 1". Bucks Herald. 3 January 1835. Retrieved 24 April 2020 – via British Newspaper Archive.
^ abFisher, David R. "St. Albans". The History of Parliament. Retrieved 24 April 2020.
Sources[]
Robert Beatson, A Chronological Register of Both Houses of Parliament (London: Longman, Hurst, Res & Orme, 1807) [1]
D Brunton & D H Pennington, Members of the Long Parliament (London: George Allen & Unwin, 1954)
Cobbett's Parliamentary history of England, from the Norman Conquest in 1066 to the year 1803 (London: Thomas Hansard, 1808) [2]
F W S Craig, British Parliamentary Election Results 1832-1885 (2nd edition, Aldershot: Parliamentary Research Services, 1989)
Henry Stooks Smith, The Parliaments of England from 1715 to 1847 (2nd edition, edited by FWS Craig - Chichester: Parliamentary Reference Publications, 1973)