Charnwood
2010 Results:
Conservative: 26560 (49.61%)
Labour: 10536 (19.68%)
Liberal Democrat: 11531 (21.54%)
BNP: 3116 (5.82%)
UKIP: 1799 (3.36%)
Majority: 15029 (28.07%)
Notional 2005 Results:
Conservative: 20261 (47.4%)
Labour: 11621 (27.2%)
Liberal Democrat: 8042 (18.8%)
Other: 2822 (6.6%)
Majority: 8640 (20.2%)
Actual 2005 result
Conservative: 23571 (46.6%)
Labour: 14762 (29.2%)
Liberal Democrat: 9057 (17.9%)
BNP: 1737 (3.4%)
UKIP: 1489 (2.9%)
Majority: 8809 (17.4%)
2001 Result
Conservative: 23283 (48.2%)
Labour: 15544 (32.2%)
Liberal Democrat: 7835 (16.2%)
UKIP: 1603 (3.3%)
Majority: 7739 (16%)
1997 Result
Conservative: 26110 (46.5%)
Labour: 20210 (36%)
Liberal Democrat: 7224 (12.9%)
Referendum: 2104 (3.7%)
Other: 525 (0.9%)
Majority: 5900 (10.5%)
Boundary changes:
Profile:
Current MP: Stephen Dorrell(Conservative) Born 1952, Worcester. Educated at Uppingham School and Oxford University. Former director of his family clothing firm. Contested Hull East O1974. First elected as MP for Loughborough, MP for Charnwood since 1997. Government whip 1987-1990, Under-secretary of state for heath 1990-1992, Financial secretary 1992-1994, Secretary of State for Health 1994-1995, Secretary of State for Health 1995-1997. He stood for the leadership of the Conservative party in 1997, but dropped out of the race prior to the first ballot. Shadow secretary of state for education 1997-1998 (more information at They work for you)
Stephen Dorrell(Conservative) Born 1952, Worcester. Educated at Uppingham School and Oxford University. Former director of his family clothing firm. Contested Hull East O1974. First elected as MP for Loughborough, MP for Charnwood since 1997. Government whip 1987-1990, Under-secretary of state for heath 1990-1992, Financial secretary 1992-1994, Secretary of State for Health 1994-1995, Secretary of State for Health 1995-1997. He stood for the leadership of the Conservative party in 1997, but dropped out of the race prior to the first ballot. Shadow secretary of state for education 1997-1998 (more information at They work for you)
Eric Neal Goodyer (Labour) Educated at UMIST. Electronics engineer and lecturer at De Montfort University. Former Lewisham councillor
Robin Webber-Jones (Liberal Democrat) Miles Storier (UKIP) 
Cathy Duffy (BNP) Born 1958, Malaysia. Charnwood councillor. Contested East Midlands 2009 European election.2001 Census Demographics
Total 2001 Population: 89689
Male: 49%
Female: 51%
Under 18: 22.4%
Over 60: 22.3%
Born outside UK: 6%
White: 92.8%
Black: 0.3%
Asian: 5.5%
Mixed: 0.8%
Other: 0.5%
Christian: 73.3%
Hindu: 4%
Sikh: 1%
Full time students: 2.5%
Graduates 16-74: 18.1%
No Qualifications 16-74: 28.8%
Owner-Occupied: 86.4%
Social Housing: 7.4% (Council: 6.2%, Housing Ass.: 1.1%)
Privately Rented: 4.2%
Homes without central heating and/or private bathroom: 4.1%
Eric being in denial does not make things go away. As you know BNP membership has never been higher our finanical turnover has never been as high we have never had so many elected people and we have never had so many hard working activists. We will also thrash Labour in the Birstall by election coming up if you dare even stand
If things are so good for the British Nazi Party, seems a bit strange that they can’t get their accounts sorted out….
Sorry TAM not aware of a registered political party by that name
I think that the best guide is the ballot box. The BNP peaked last June, but the pro-EU vote (80% of the total) cast proves that Britons would rather work with our allies as opposed to standing isolated, which is the inevitable result of Nationalism.
Happy new year Eric you were saying we were finished before june now we peaked in june? confusing to say the least. So will your lot be contesting Birstal in Feb? and will the BNP beat you again just months before the General Election? well of course we wont sorry i forgot we have peaked (AGAIN!!!!!!)
80% pro Europe vote where do you get your figures from? The tories make out they are anto EU in Nw Leics anyway so the vote they opolled in June to me is 50/50 at least. I do wish we get our chance to have a real say on if we want Europe or not as i am sure the nation would say no and thats the very reason why we do not get a say on anything like the lisbon treaty. Also there is a big difference between working with and being ruled by
Hope to see you soon Eric!
From the BNPs latest leaflet –
Under education it says that they will” restore effective traditional teaching and ‘dicipline’”
I have no doubt that their Birstall campaign will be as good as their spelling
The result was a Conservative hold with a comfortable 200-odd majority over Labour, with the BNP 3rd. No LD candidate.
It was however our best result in years – in the last 3 way contest in 2003 the results were
LibDem 716/653
Con 708/562
Lab 189/161.
This time it was
Con 674
Lab 452
BNP 288.
Turnout 26.9%
Sue King has withdrawn as Lib Dem candidate – can’t remember who they have selected
The Lib Dem candidate is not Sue King but local campaigner Robin Webber-Jones.
Andrew is this the ‘Local’ Lib Dem campaigner who last stood in the local elections for Hinckley Borough Council (markfield by election) and in one of the Hinckley divisons for county council in June (markfield desford & thornton). I think the term local would apply if he contested Bosworth not Charnwood
Is there a competition for the maximum number of fringe candidates? So far we only have 2 declared.
We will also be running our normal ‘find the best crenelated UKIP house’ during the campaign – I think the winner is likely to the fortress on the brow of the A6 by-bass just south of Rothley again, but the UKIP castles in Nanpantan and Long Whatton both run it to a close 2nd place
Eric my good friend i would say no fringe candidates that i know of yet ! Unless we get the Front standing or some Looney.
I think the BNP and UKIP are much more a part of the political system these days even if you dont like it. MEP’s & GLA have confirmed that for the BNP. I hear our lot have been very busy iin Charnwood these past 2 weeks.
By the way Long Whatton is in NW Leics not Charnwood
Cons Hold= 12,000 maj
Con Hold
Maj 10 300
C hold maj 15000.
Con maj 14,000
Was Birstall in Loughborough from 1885 to 1997 and Charnwood since? I would guess it was, since all of the wards in this seat were previously in Loughborough.
It isnt true that “all of the wards in this seat were previously in Loughborough.” This seat when it was created also took voters from Rutland & Melton, Bosworth and Blaby. Birstall is part of the major part of the seat which came rfom Loughborough but it had only been in that seat since 1983 when it was part of the area which replaced those areas which formed the new NW Leicestershire. I’m pretty sure that before 1983 Birstall was in the Melton constituency together with most of the eastern half of this constituency
Welcome back Pete
Personal prediction available from me to friendly debaters only on this thread on close of poll. email me for mobile eric.goodyerATcharnwood-labour.co.uk
CON HOLD
Can I make a final plea for Charnwood Conservatives to consider voting tacticly for Labour
Lol Eric. Why would Conservatives vote tactically for Labour when it is a safe Tory seat to start with?
Can I appeal to Labour voters to vote tactically for the Toires to keep the Lib Dem,s out!
“Lol Eric. Why would Conservatives vote tactically for Labour when it is a safe Tory seat to start with?”
because Eric is the Lab candidate
CON HOLD
Maj. 14500
Good luck for tonight, Eric
Dear Shaun – have you no sense of humour!
Hi Ben thanks – you and many others have emailed good wishes, but I regret not enough
My offer of a prediction is still on offer at close of poll, if Iget a chance I will post it here
I had no idea Eric. You should have told us you were the candidate sooner
I forgot my login -
Labour poster up in Swithland – must be a first for Charnnwood – and two in Woodhouse Eaves. Plus looks like a high turnout
Con hold 12000 – last week I would have said over Lib Dem – now I have no idea
My first week-end with no Labour Party briefings – bliss
Off to Romania & Moldova next Saturday for 2 weeks oblivion – hope there is a Government when we return
Thanks to all who joined in this debate
Intresting that the BNP candidate is born in Malaysia!
Not that interesting. Often people who dislike immigration were born and/or brought up in foreign countries which used to be run by Britain. That’s just an observation – I’m not trying to say it’s either a good thing or a bad thing.
In 1983 the staunchly Labour Leicestershire coalfield was removed from Loughborough constituency and replaced by much of the Soar Valley (why not all of it? and which seats was it in before then?), a Tory-voting rural area that includes the large village of Barrow upon Soar. In 1997 the Soar Valley was transferred to this then-new constituency where of course it has remained since
I’m not sure exactly how “staunch” the Labour-voting Leicestershire coalfield ever was. I certainly don’t think it was as strongly Labour as most other coalfields in other parts of the country.
Well quite – it was so staunch that Leicestershire NW electred a Conservative MP easily in 1983 and the best Labour area anyway was Coalville which had come from Bosworth, so the areas coming in from Loughborough were not all that strong for Labour. The problem for them from the boundary changes was rather their weakness in the area added from Melton (which answers Harry’s first question – the second, as to why not all would presumably be a simple matter of numbers – if all had transferred, Loughborough would have had too many electors and Rutland & Melton too few)
Yes the coalfield element of Loughborough pre-1983, as Pete correctly says, wasn’t all that great and not as large as that in Bosworth. Nevertheless it was an important part of the constituency. I remember at university a Loughborough girl at my college recalling the 1974 election, when as it happens the Tory candidate for the constituency was a colleague of my father’s in his Gray’s Inn chambers. At the count he was just about to celebrate a Conservative gain from Labour, but the returns then came in from the mining villages and he wasn’t elected.
Someone by the name of RM Yorke according to the Keele Politics Database.
Were there any boundary changes in Loughborough and Bosworth between 1970 and 1974?
I notice both increased significantly in electorate and continued to trend Conservative.
So did both continue to get exurban commuter developments as happened around all the midlands cities at that time plus increased student numbers in Loughborough itself?
There were no boundary changes affecting those two seats in 1974, surprisingly perhaps given the quite radical changes that occurred in some other parts of the county (the creation of the Blaby seat etc)