Bedfordshire North East
2010 Results:
Conservative: 30989 (55.78%)
Labour: 8957 (16.12%)
Liberal Democrat: 12047 (21.69%)
BNP: 1265 (2.28%)
UKIP: 2294 (4.13%)
Majority: 18942 (34.09%)
Notional 2005 Results:
Conservative: 24641 (49.9%)
Labour: 12394 (25.1%)
Liberal Democrat: 10290 (20.9%)
Other: 2018 (4.1%)
Majority: 12247 (24.8%)
Actual 2005 result
Conservative: 24725 (49.9%)
Labour: 12474 (25.2%)
Liberal Democrat: 10320 (20.8%)
UKIP: 1986 (4%)
Majority: 12251 (24.7%)
2001 Result
Conservative: 22586 (49.9%)
Labour: 14009 (31%)
Liberal Democrat: 7409 (16.4%)
UKIP: 1242 (2.7%)
Majority: 8577 (19%)
1997 Result
Conservative: 22311 (44.3%)
Labour: 16428 (32.6%)
Liberal Democrat: 7179 (14.2%)
Referendum: 2490 (4.9%)
Other: 1980 (3.9%)
Majority: 5883 (11.7%)
Boundary changes:
Profile:
Current MP: Alistair Burt(Conservative) (more information at They work for you)
Alistair Burt(Conservative) (more information at They work for you)
Ed Brown (Labour) born Wilmslow. Educated at Cambridge University, the LSE and University of Siena. Barrister specialising in commercial and employment law.
Mike Pitt (Liberal Democrat) Born 1975. Educated at cambridge University. Maths teacher. Former Cambridge councillor.
Brian Capell (UKIP)Ian Seeby (BNP) 2001 Census Demographics
Total 2001 Population: 90050
Male: 49.7%
Female: 50.3%
Under 18: 23.2%
Over 60: 19.3%
Born outside UK: 4.9%
White: 97.5%
Black: 0.4%
Asian: 0.9%
Mixed: 0.8%
Other: 0.4%
Christian: 75.2%
Full time students: 2%
Graduates 16-74: 20.8%
No Qualifications 16-74: 23.8%
Owner-Occupied: 78.7%
Social Housing: 12.9% (Council: 7.6%, Housing Ass.: 5.3%)
Privately Rented: 5.6%
Homes without central heating and/or private bathroom: 4.5%
In 1992 this would have been a really rock solid Tory seat,
and although it remains very safe, it did experience
a big slump in support in 1997. But the majority will probably
be about 16-17,000 next time.
Yes, I think Biggleswade is the main town in the seat, and since it only has 15,000 voters, this should be a rock-solid Tory seat. A 20,000 majority can’t be ruled out.
Its a shame they didnt use the name Biggleswade for this seat. While Beds Mid now includes no significant town worthy of having a seat named after it this one does, and there is precedent for the name (before 1918)
I disagree with Pete’s comment regarding the seat’s name. As a resident of a village (in the constituency) just outside Bedford I feel it would be very strange to vote in a seat called ‘Biggleswade’ which is many miles away. I think the name should remain.
I accept that point. There are very many cases of people voting in constituencies named after a town with which they have little or no links. This explains the increasing recent tendency to name county divisions after the compass points rather than after the main town (Leominster becomes Herefordshire North for example) although plenty of examples still exist (Ludlow, Chichester, Gainsborough to name a few)
I think at the time I referred to the seat in question was known, as was the practice at the time by two names ie. it was Bedfordshire Northern (or Biggleswade). Presumably this choice was there to satisfy the understandable concerns of people like Jamie. I assume MPs didnt refer to each other in the House as the honourable member for Bedfordshire Northern (or Biggleswade) or whatever..
The constituency name is rather misleading, since the seat curls around to the NW of Bedford. Maybe North Bedfordshire would be better.
Barnaby – Prior to 97 there was a Bedfordshire North seat but rather bizarely it included Bedford – and was safely Tory throughout the 80s
As Bedford was no longer in the seat I guess the boundary commision decided the name had to change, although georgraphically speaking your suggestion is apt
South also became South West in 1983.
Bedfordshire North was called ‘Bedford’ prior to 1983, even as a county seat.
It could have caused a bit of confusion keeping the name of Bedfordshire North for what is an entirely different seat, but they did the saem thing in the case of Worcestershire mid which was a new seat, the majority of the old seat going to form Redditch.
There is a county council division here called NE Bedfordshire which alwyas struck me as exceptionally unimaginative, although not quite as bad as the practice in Lancashire (South Ribble SE etc)
I still think Biggleswade is a good name for this seat but I have a preference for town names rather than county and compass point descriptions. There would be a problem in Beds MId as there is no town large or significant enough to rate a mention in the title of the seat.
There are quite a few rather clumsy county council division names in Lancashire, as it goes. “West Lancashire West” is one of my “favourites”.
As it goes, I did manage to get EIGHT (count them!) proposed county council divison names changed at the most recent review. I may never achieve anything else but I can lay claim to changing the names of eight local government districts
The two that come to mind is Farington (originally proposed as South Ribble Central), and Bamber Bridge & Walton-le-Dale (originally South Ribble North East).
Funnily enough I was discussing this a couple of years ago on vote2005 and the South Ribble ones were the most obnoxious, but it seemed to be common in all the Lancashire districts. I remember on that site somebody telling me they ahd managed to get the naems changed in South Ribble and i expressed my gratitude to them, so it seems likely we have met before Doktorb
Hah, we must have done, I think I remember that discussion. The other two were Leyland Central (formerly Leyland West) and Leyland South West (formerly Leyland East).
I think the problem is the committee seem to use district names rather than the towns within them (a common theme, it seems all -shire divisions have this). I’m happy they accepted Bamber Bridge & Walton-le-Dale because they were the only component parts of “South Ribble North East”, it just didn’t make sense to name it anything else!
Politicos may be happy with “Fylde South” but unless there is a commanding reson otherwise, the general public should expect a name they understand.
[Turns Rant Mode Off] =)
The old county division of Bedfordshire North East is now gone. There was plenty of scope for confusion in 2005, with General Election and Counties on the same day for ‘North East Bedfordshire’. Mind you, the Boundary committee originally wanted to call the county division Bedford North East, when nobody in the county division would think of themselves as being in Bedford, except in the technical sense of being in Bedford Borough (unlike parts of the Parl constituency). They may have very precise counts of current and projected population, but little idea of the senses of identity of people on the ground. I wonder what silly names they will come up with as they review the boundaries now unitary status has been granted?
As for constituency names, it gets tricky for an odd-shaped constituency that seems to comprise all the bits left over after other more coherent constituencies had been designed in Bedfordshire. Barnaby was wrong: unless Biggleswade is mentioned in the constituency name, it needs to have ‘Bedfordshire’ and ‘East’ in it. Perhaps ‘Bedfordshire North and East’ would have been the least misleading: although having said that, you can leave Bedford heading West and still go through this constituency (or largely south on the A600, come to that).
Utterly mystified that the Bedford Borough mayoral election has attracted no comment on the site. Even if it is ‘only’ a local election, it is probably the biggest election this side of the General Election, with an electorate of 110,000, and could well affect what happens in the constituencies affected at the General Election. A very large portion of North East Beds constituency is voting – 32,000 voters, which is essentially the whole constituency except Sandy and Biggleswade. Will the largely Tory voters of the rural parts of Bedford Borough be disenchanted that the Tory candidate is strongly identified with urban Bedford? The Tory open caucus rejected Tom Wootton (Cllr in this constituency), the only candidate on offer to them from the villages.
Meanwhile, as ‘Tory Insider’ correctly identified on the Bedford thread, I am a Green (well, I did contest Mid Beds at the 2005 General Election, so it is hardly a secret).
As I write, before nominations have been oficially announced, I think we have the only female candidate. I hadn’t previously thought the other parties in Bedford Borough were so sexist that none of them would put up a female candidate.
The Green Party contested the Mayoral Election in 2002. When it contested the Mayoralty again in 2007, its vote more than doubled (absolute number of votes). That Green Party vote across Bedford Borough then more than doubled again in the European Election earlier this year. It’s a tough trend to keep going, but having a candidate that stands out from the crowd may well help.
Having read Ben’s ‘sexist’ allegation in several posts on this site I feel compelled to remind Ben that in 2007 there were 5 candidates in the Mayoral election. Frank Branston was the current Mayor (Ind), Labour had a male candidate, but the Greens, AND the Lib Dems and Conservatives had a female candidate for that election. Ben’s comments seem fatuous in that context.
Marky. I’m not so stupid as to have forgotten who the candidates in 2007 were, having been agent for one of them. But if there hadn’t been a Green Party candidate either time, it would have been 50-50 in 2007 and 100-0 in 2009.
Of the declared candidates so far in NE Beds, 100% male. Of the declared candidates so far in Bedford Parl Constit, 100% male.
Neither constituency had a female candidate in 2005, iirc, either. Of course, it might be that a female candidate is selected by one of the parties yet to announce (Green Party selection is in progress), but even so, it is more likely than not that NE Beds & Bedford Parl Constit will both have far more male than female candidates again.
I would guess that the fact the Green candidate in Bedford’s Mayoral election came a very poor last with a bit over 3% of the vote indicates that the female electorate of that borough are less obsessed with gender issues and tokenism than Ben Foley and more concerned to vote for someone who has policies they wish to support (clearly the Green party doesnt provide them either)
Despite all Ben’s whining, its worth mentioning that Bedfordshire currently has two female MPs out of a total of six – a third which I guess would make it a higher proportion than the national average. I’m sure Ben Foley will be pleased that whatever other qualities, or otherwise, they display, he can count on having women like Nadine Dorries and Margaret Moran representing his fine county in parliament. Sorry to see the latter go i’m sure, but if youre lucky you might get Esther Ranzen instead
I think about 20% of MPs are female at the moment.
Pete, you know full well that this isn’t an arena for debating policies. And as for the shares of the vote for various candidates in the mayoral election, as with so many elections, the candidate that spent least on the campaign got a lower share of the vote than the others. Time and time again, in the electorate’s calculation of who to vote for is an assessment of how likely the candidates on offer are to win, and one of the elements that goes into that is how much paid-for material they see from the various parties/candidates (and another is past performance of the candidate/party in similar elections in the area). Which of course puts parties that appeal to a substantial proportion of the rich at an advantage vs parties that challenge where they got the money from (or whether there should be a redistribution of wealth).
So are there any plans for any other candidates from other parties here? As a resident of this constituency, I’d like to have a choice and with the likelihood of an election less than three months away, it is a little worrying.
Which seats have included Arlesey and Stotfold?
Which seats have Arlesey and Stotfold been in?
They’re both now in this seat. In the past, it would’ve been Mid Bedfordshire.
Can anyone confirm Mike Pitt as the Lib Dem PPC? Nothing in the local paper(s) about it.
Peter, the LibDem website confirms it.
CON HOLD – IMO
Who is Mike Pitt? Despite living only 200m outside this constituency, and being interested in local politics, I haven’t got a clue who he is. Mind you, come to that, who is Ed Brown? Do either have any local links (that I haven’t spotted)?
Peter Taylor:
I can’t say anything more clear-cut about the Green Party than that a Green Party agent will attend the meeting of agents for the constituency that is taking place next week.
Mike Pitt contacted me personally last week to help him with his campaign.
I don’t for a second believe the Lib Dems will take this seat, but there really does need to be a credible alternative to Alistair Burt (who coincidentally sat for Bury North, where I’m originally from) because he dominates the local press and has his fingers in many pies. I have actually met him on a couple of occasions as well.
There is, I believe from anecdotal evidence, a large incentive for a UKIP candidate here – vast swathes of the west of this constituency are home to the very well-off and many pubs in the area espouse an openly anti-EU, pro-English/British mentality.
I am no Lib Dem sycophant though, which is probably why I’m a member of two parties – the Greens being the other one.
Really, Peter? Is that allowed then in your two parties?
I suppose both the Lib Dems and the greens have to be greatful for whatever members they can get-even if they are also committed to an opposing party!
I didn’t think that was allowed either (I’m an ex-Lib Dem member, currently with no party….)
Why does there need to be a credible alternative to Alistair Burt? Some seats just aren’t likely to have meaningful contests, other than in extreme circumstances. This is such a seat. It’s a Tory banker, although in 1997 Labour reduced the Tory majority to about 5kish.
Pretty sure it is against party rules to be a member of two parties.
Labour members can also be members of the Co-operative party.
Peter, where are you a member? Are you using an alias for this site? The local Green Party covering this constituency didn’t have a member called ‘Peter Taylor’ on the date of the most recent list I saw (Jan). The Green Party also does not permit members to be a member of another party.
“Labour members can also be members of the Co-operative party.”
Thsts because the co-operative party doesn’t really exist as a legitimate seperate party, it is a branch of the Labour Party (whatever they say).
Well it is in a way, Shaun. It is not possible to be a member of the Co-operative Party without being an individual member of the Labour Party. It is not therefore an opposing party, far from it. The Lib Dems & Greens however are a totally different kettle of fish, since they routinely stand against each other.
I remember Francis Noel-Baker (who had extremely shady connections to the Greek Colonels) being simultaneously a member of the SDP, the Liberals & the Greens (or where they still the Ecology Party?).
Francis Noel-Baker may possibly have simultaneously briefly been a member of the SDP and the Ecology party (it is unclear from obituaries, the Indy and Telegraphs differ), but he joined the Tories in ’84. He was never a member of the Liberals.
Interestingly enough, he was succeeded in his seat (via a by-election) by the (now Baron) Stobbart also left Labour to sit as an Independent peer after supporting a Socialist Alliance candidate!
BNP have obtained nomination papers and were seeking access to the electoral register for this constituency
but I have no idea if they have a candidate identified.
Cons Hold= 15,000 maj
CON 16000
Ian Seeby is the BNP candidate here
C hold maj 18000
Con Hold
Maj 16 700
Con maj 17,000
This election seems to very targeted on the marginals I live in the south of the county and have had no body doorstepping or even any election leaflets apart from the conservatives. I can only assume both other main parties have admitted defeat as in all due respect both the Labour and Lib dem candidates look like they are just here for the experience before moving to safer seat.
On the blog part of this site (…/blog/archives/2753?cp=5) I have posted on what I think the impact of the Parliamentary Voting System and Constituencies Bill would be on Bedfordshire.
It looks like Bedford Borough and Central Beds together will be allocated 4 constituencies (essentially as at present), while Luton isn’t big enough for 2, and will have to take in some voters from Hertfordshire somehow. The requirement to be within +or- 5% of the UK quota size will, however, mean boundary changes, since Bedford constituency is only 90% of the quota electorate.
My guess is that Mid Beds constituency will no longer extend into Bedford Borough with Wilstead joining this constituency, while Langford and Henlow would move from NE Beds into Mid Beds. (This is on current ward boundaries that are in the process of revision, whereas the BC will work on the new ward boundaries, but it gives an idea of possibilities.)
The Tory share fell about 16% points here in 1997.
The numerical vote has since recovered to about the 1992 level,
and the share up 11.5% since 1997 – meaning it’s about 4.5% below 1992.
The electorate must have grown quite a bit.
As he gets older Alistair Burt is starting to resemble John Major in a number of ways IMO. I noticed that when he was on Newsnight tonight.
I’ve also noticed that he’s lost his Northern accent completely. I think he went to the same school as my dad in Bury, and when he was MP for Bury North he had a fairly clear local accent. Now however he seems to have a rather classless Home Counties intonation.