Mid Bedfordshire (UK Parliament constituency) (original) (raw)

Parliamentary constituency in the United Kingdom, 1918 onwards

Mid Bedfordshire
County constituencyfor the House of Commons
MapBoundaries since 2024
Map of constituencyBoundary of Mid Bedfordshire in the East of England
County Bedfordshire
Electorate 71,748 (2023)[1]
Major settlements Ampthill, Flitwick
Current constituency
Created 1918
Member of Parliament Blake Stephenson (Conservative)
Seats One
Created from Luton and Biggleswade

Mid Bedfordshire is a constituency[n 1] represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament by Blake Stephenson of the Conservative Partysince the 2024 United Kingdom general election.[n 2]

Constituency profile

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This seat comprises small towns and rural areas in the outer parts of the London commuter belt, with the M1 motorway, Midland Main Line, the A1 road, East Coast Main Line and other A roads providing the major north–south commuter links primarily in and out of London. There are several logistics sites including Amazon at Marston Gate. Residents are wealthier than the UK average, and health is around the UK average.[2]

Mid Bedfordshire was created under the Representation of the People Act 1918.

It had elected Conservative MPs since the 1931 general election. It was held from 1983 to 1997 by the Attorney General Nicholas Lyell, who then transferred to the newly created seat of North East Bedfordshire; his old seat was won by Jonathan Sayeed, a former MP in Bristol. Sayeed was forced to retire in 2005 due to ill health, following a row over allegations he had profited from his private educational tours of Parliament and a resulting deselection attempt by the constituency party. Nadine Dorries then held the seat until 2023; the Conservative whip was withdrawn from her in 2012 and returned six months later, after she had appeared on the reality television series I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here!.[3] Dorries resigned her seat in August 2023.[4] In the ensuing by-election, the seat was taken by Alistair Strathern of the Labour Party, the first time a Labour member had held the seat in its 105-year history.[5] In the 2024 United Kingdom general election the seat was regained by the Conservatives, now represented by Blake Stephenson. Incumbent MP Alistair Strathern had stood in Hitchin instead and was successfully elected there.

Boundaries and boundary changes

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The constituency was created as a Division of Bedfordshire by the Representation of the People Act 1918, comprising:

Ampthill and Biggleswade had been part of the abolished Biggleswade Division, and Leighton Buzzard was transferred from the Luton Division.

1Created as an Urban District out of the Rural District of Biggleswade in 1927.[7]

Gained southern and eastern rural areas of Bedford. Leighton Buzzard and surrounding rural areas (equivalent to the abolished Rural District of Eaton Bray, which had been absorbed by the Rural District of Luton) transferred to the new constituency of South Bedfordshire.

As above, apart from changes to the Rural District of Bedford.[6]

The village of Eaton Socon had been absorbed by the Urban District of St Neots and was transferred to the county constituency of Huntingdonshire.

Kempston transferred from the abolished constituency of Bedford. Parts included in the new constituencies of North Bedfordshire (far north-eastern area), South West Bedfordshire (south-western parts) and North Luton (including Flitwick).

Wholesale changes, with eastern parts, comprising about half of the electorate, including Biggleswade and Sandy, being transferred to the new constituency of North East Bedfordshire. Kempston was transferred back to the re-established borough constituency of Bedford. Regained parts of the District of Mid Bedfordshire previously transferred to South West Bedfordshire and North Luton (including Flitwick), together with the parts of the District of South Bedfordshire, also previously in North Luton.

Map

Map of boundaries 2010-2024

Marginal changes due to revision of local authority wards.

Further to the 2023 Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies, which came into effect for the 2024 general election, the composition of the constituency was defined as follows (as they existed on 1 December 2020):

Eastern areas, including the town of Shefford, were transferred out to the re-established, cross-county boundary constituency of Hitchin.

Following further local government boundary reviews in Bedford[12][13] and Central Bedfordshire[14][15] which came into effect in May 2023, the constituency now comprises the following from the 2024 general election:

Members of Parliament

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Luton and Biggleswade prior to 1918

Election Member[17] Party
1918 Max Townley
1922 Frederick Linfield
1924 William Warner
1929 Milner Gray
1931 Alan Lennox-Boyd
1960 by-election Stephen Hastings
1983 Sir Nicholas Lyell
1997 Jonathan Sayeed
2005 Nadine Dorries
2023 by-election Alistair Strathern
2024 Blake Stephenson

Elections in the 2020s

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* Vote share changes compared to the 2019 election, not the 2023 by-election.

* The 2024 boundary changes were not in effect for the by-election.

Elections in the 2010s

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2019 notional result[26]

Party Vote %
Conservative 31,034
Labour 10,525
Liberal Democrats 6,420
Green 1,998
Others 1,348
Turnout 51,325 71.5
Electorate 71,748

In June 2015 the independent candidate, Tim Ireland, lodged an unsuccessful election petition accusing Nadine Dorries of breaches of section 106 of the Representation of the People Act 1983 by making false statements about his character.[41][42] The petition was dismissed by the courts on 30 July 2015.[43]

Elections in the 2000s

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Elections in the 1990s

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Elections in the 1980s

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Elections in the 1970s

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Elections in the 1960s

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Elections in the 1950s

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Elections in the 1940s

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General Election 1939–40: Another General Election was required to take place before the end of 1940. The political parties had been making preparations for an election to take place from 1939 and by the end of this year, the following candidates had been selected;

Election in the 1930s

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Election in the 1920s

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Election in the 1910s

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  1. ^ A county constituency (for the purposes of election expenses and type of returning officer)

  2. ^ 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.

  3. ^ "The 2023 Review of Parliamentary Constituency Boundaries in England – Volume two: Constituency names, designations and composition – Eastern". Boundary Commission for England. Retrieved 26 June 2024.

  4. ^ "Bedfordshire Mid: Seat Details". Electoral Calculus. Retrieved 29 August 2023.

  5. ^ "Nadine Dorries suspended as Tory MP in I'm a Celebrity row". 6 November 2012. Archived from the original on 29 August 2023. Retrieved 29 August 2023.

  6. ^ Leigh, Suzanne (26 August 2023). "Tory MP Nadine Dorries quits Commons seat". BBC News. Retrieved 26 August 2023.

  7. ^ Blewett, Sam (20 October 2023). "Labour wins Mid Bedfordshire in historic by-election result". The Independent.

  8. ^ a b c Craig, F. W. S. (1972). Boundaries of Parliamentary Constituencies 1885-1972. Chichester: Political Reference Publications. ISBN 0-900178-09-4.

  9. ^ "Sandy UD through time | Census tables with data for the Local Government District". visionofbritain.org.uk. Retrieved 28 January 2019.

  10. ^ "The Parliamentary Constituencies (England) Order 1983". legislation.gov.uk. Retrieved 28 January 2019.

  11. ^ "The Parliamentary Constituencies (England) Order 1995". legislation.gov.uk. Retrieved 28 January 2019.

  12. ^ "The Parliamentary Constituencies (England) Order 2007". legislation.gov.uk. Retrieved 28 January 2019.

  13. ^ "The Parliamentary Constituencies Order 2023". Schedule I Part 2 Eastern region.

  14. ^ LGBCE. "Bedford | LGBCE". lgbce.org.uk. Retrieved 6 April 2024.

  15. ^ "The Bedford (Electoral Changes) Order 2022".

  16. ^ LGBCE. "Central Bedfordshire | LGBCE". lgbce.org.uk. Retrieved 6 April 2024.

  17. ^ "The Central Bedfordshire (Electoral Changes) Order 2021".

  18. ^ "New Seat Details – Bedfordshire Mid". electoralcalculus.co.uk. Retrieved 6 April 2024.

  19. ^ Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "B" (part 2)

  20. ^ LGBT+ Conservatives [@LGBTCons] (23 May 2024). "Congratulations to @LGBTCons member @Blake_MidBeds who was selected this evening as the @Conservatives candidate for Mid Bedfordshire…" (Tweet) – via Twitter.

  21. ^ Labour East [@EofELabour] (21 May 2024). "Congratulations, Maahwish Mirza, Labour's Parliamentary candidate for Mid Bedfordshire!" (Tweet) – via Twitter.

  22. ^ "Find My PPC (Eastern England)" (PDF). Reform UK. Retrieved 15 December 2023.

  23. ^ "Stuart Roberts for Mid Bedfordshire in the UK parliamentary general election!".

  24. ^ "Full list of all Green Party candidates at the next general election". Bright Green. 17 September 2023. Retrieved 21 December 2023.

  25. ^ "Cllr Gareth Mackey for Mid Bedfordshire" – via Facebook.

  26. ^ "General Election Candidates". Retrieved 3 June 2024.

  27. ^ "STATEMENT OF PERSONS NOMINATED, NOTICE OF POLL & SITUATION OF POLLING STATIONS". Central Bedfordshire Council. 22 September 2023. Retrieved 22 September 2023.

  28. ^ "Notional results for a UK general election on 12 December 2019". Rallings & Thrasher, Professor David Denver (Scotland), Nicholas Whyte (NI) for Sky News, PA, BBC News and ITV News. UK Parliament. Retrieved 11 July 2024.

  29. ^ "Bedfordshire Mid Parliamentary constituency". BBC News. Retrieved 19 November 2019.

  30. ^ "General election: 8 June, 2017, Results of the 2017 general election for Central Bedfordshire", centralbedfordshire.gov.uk, retrieved 28 November 2017

  31. ^ Kirk, Ashley (8 June 2017), "General Election 2017: Full results, Constituency finder: Bedfordshire Mid", The Telegraph, retrieved 28 November 2017

  32. ^ Bloom, Dan (7 June 2017), "General election candidates 2017: Full list of who is standing in all 650 seats in plain text format", Daily Mirror

  33. ^ "Statement of persons nominated, notice of poll and situation of polling stations for Mid Bedfordshire" (PDF), centralbedfordshire.gov.uk, Richard Carr, acting returning officer, 8 May 2017, retrieved 19 May 2017

  34. ^ "Notice of election agents for Mid Bedfordshire" (PDF), centralbedfordshire.gov.uk, Richard Carr, acting returning officer, 8 May 2017, retrieved 19 May 2017

  35. ^ "Election Data 2015". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 17 October 2015. Retrieved 17 October 2015.

  36. ^ "Statement of Persons Nominated And Notice of Poll" (PDF). Acting Returning Officer. 9 April 2015. Archived from the original (PDF) on 23 September 2015. Retrieved 14 April 2015.

  37. ^ "UK ELECTION RESULTS: BEDFORDSHIRE MID 2015". [_user-generated source?_]

  38. ^ "nigelwickens.wordpress.com". Archived from the original on 2 February 2015. Retrieved 1 February 2015.[_user-generated source?_]

  39. ^ "Central Bedfordshire Liberal Democrats". Archived from the original on 26 February 2022 – via Facebook.[_user-generated source?_]

  40. ^ "Gareth Ellis selected as Green Party candidate for Mid Bedfordshire". 31 July 2019.

  41. ^ "Tim Ireland: Prospective Independent Parliamentary Candidate for Mid Bedfordshire". 26 July 2010. Retrieved 18 March 2015.[_user-generated source?_]

  42. ^ "Candidates". OMRLP. 19 February 2015. Retrieved 19 March 2015.

  43. ^ Perraudin, Frances (10 June 2015). "Nadine Dorries accused of making false claims about opponent during election". The Guardian. Retrieved 10 June 2015.

  44. ^ Green, Chris (10 June 2015). "Nadine Dorries faces challenge after general election smear campaign allegations". The Independent. Archived from the original on 14 May 2022. Retrieved 10 June 2015.

  45. ^ Green,Chris (30 July 2015). "High Court rejects attempt to unseat Nadine Dorries after legal documents sent to wrong address". The Independent. London. Archived from the original on 14 May 2022. Retrieved 13 August 2015.

  46. ^ "Election Data 2010". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 26 July 2013. Retrieved 17 October 2015.

  47. ^ "2010 General Election". UK Parliament – MPs and Lords. Retrieved 29 August 2023.

  48. ^ "Election Data 2005". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.

  49. ^ "Election Data 2001". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.

  50. ^ "BBC NEWS | VOTE 2001 | RESULTS & CONSTITUENCIES | Bedfordshire Mid". BBC News.

  51. ^ "Election Data 1997". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.

  52. ^ The swing was calculated by the BBC compared with a notional 1992 result. BBC Election '97

  53. ^ "Election Data 1992". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.

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

  55. ^ "Election Data 1987". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.

  56. ^ "Election Data 1983". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.

  57. ^ British parliamentary election results 1918−1949, Craig, F.W.S.

  58. ^ a b British Parliamentary Election Results 1918−1949, FWS Craig

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