Penrith and the Border

Boundary changes: loses Wetheral to Carlisle and Marsh, Wampool and part of Waver ward to Workington.

Profile: a geographically huge constituency at the extreme north-west of England. The seat comprises the whole of Eden District council, most of the rural parts of Carlisle Council (Carlisle constituency is almost entirely surrounded by Penrith & the Border) and part of Allerdale. The largest population centre is the town of Penrith itself, along with smaller market towns like Brampton, Longtown, Wigtown, Appleby and Kirkby Stephen.

The seat is sparsely populated and largely dependent on agriculture and the tourism industry in the Lake District. The seat was very heavily hit by the Foot and Mouth epidemic in 2001, which had spread from an animal sold at Longtown market, and the economy is still recovering. Politically, like other affected seats this resulted in a large swing the Conservative party, which fell back somewhat in 2005 – though the seat remains a Conservative stronghold.

Current MP: Rory Stewart (Conservative) born 1973, Hong Kong. Educated at Eton and Oxford University. Author and professor of Human Rights at Harvard University. Former army officer, diplomat, deputy governor of Maysan province, Iraq and Chief executive of an Afghanistan regeneration NGO. Awarded the OBE 2004 for service in Iraq.

2010 election candidates:
Rory Stewart (Conservative) born 1973, Hong Kong. Educated at Eton and Oxford University. Author and professor of Human Rights at Harvard University. Former army officer, diplomat, deputy governor of Maysan province, Iraq and Chief executive of an Afghanistan regeneration NGO. Awarded the OBE 2004 for service in Iraq.
Barbara Cannon (Labour) Allerdale borough councillor and Cumbria county councillor.
Peter Thornton (Liberal Democrat) Born 1951, Kendal. Educated at Kendal Grammar School. Smallholder and former photographer. Cumbria councillor.
John Stanyer (UKIP)
Chris Davidson (BNP)