Plymouth Sutton and Devonport
2010 Results:
Conservative: 15050 (34.29%)
Labour: 13901 (31.67%)
Liberal Democrat: 10829 (24.67%)
UKIP: 2854 (6.5%)
Green: 904 (2.06%)
Socialist Labour: 123 (0.28%)
Independent: 233 (0.53%)
Majority: 1149 (2.62%)
Notional 2005 Results:
Labour: 16214 (40.4%)
Conservative: 11909 (29.6%)
Liberal Democrat: 9029 (22.5%)
Other: 3031 (7.5%)
Majority: 4305 (10.7%)
Actual 2005 result
Conservative: 11388 (29.8%)
Labour: 15497 (40.6%)
Liberal Democrat: 8685 (22.7%)
UKIP: 2392 (6.3%)
Other: 230 (0.6%)
Majority: 4109 (10.8%)
2001 Result
Conservative: 12310 (31.5%)
Labour: 19827 (50.7%)
Liberal Democrat: 5605 (14.3%)
UKIP: 970 (2.5%)
Other: 361 (0.9%)
Majority: 7517 (19.2%)
1997 Result
Conservative: 14441 (30.3%)
Labour: 23881 (50.1%)
Liberal Democrat: 6613 (13.9%)
Referendum: 1654 (3.5%)
Other: 1063 (2.2%)
Majority: 9440 (19.8%)
Boundary changes: The only changes to the Plymouth seats are to take account of ward boundary changes. The split ward of Ham is moved entirely into the old Plymouth Devonport seat, and the split ward of Devonport is moved entirely into Plymouth Sutton. A handful of voters in Stoke ward are also moved into Plymouth Sutton. As a result of the changes Devonport is no longer in the Plymouth Devonport seat. The boundary commission orginally proposed that the new seats should be called Plymouth North and South, but there was strong support at the inquiry for the historical names to be retained in some way and the seats were renamed Plymouth Moor View and Plymouth Sutton and Devonport.
Profile: A maritime seat in Devon. The constituency is the southern part of the city of Plymouth itself, including the naval dockyards. Historically one of the most important naval bases in Britain, Devonport remains the largest naval base in Western Europe and the base of 7 nuclear submarines, HMS Ocean, HMS Albion, HMS Bulwark, 12 frigates and most of the surveying fleet. The local economy is, predictably, largely dominated by the naval base with electronics, engineering and boat building having primary roles.
The city was largely destroyed and rebuilt during World War 2, the old harbour area and fish market around the Hoe are the most important remaining few historic areas. The city centre is currently being redeveloped as part of the Plymouth 2020 project, the Drake Circus shopping centre was replaced with a new centre in 2006. Plymouth Pavilions and Millbay are also to be developed in the future.
Plymouth Sutton was held by the Conservative MP and diarist Alan Clark between 1974 and 1992, and was a comparatively reliable Conservative seat. However the seat was altered massively in the 1997 boundary changes, with the Conservative suburbs of Plympton and Plymstock being moved into Devon South West, followed by its then MP Gary Streeter. The seat is now a Labour seat, albeit one that the Conservatives will have to take to win a majority.
Current MP: Oliver Colville (Conservative) Educated at Stowe Secondard School. Contested Plymouth Sutton 2001, 2005.
Oliver Colville (Conservative) Educated at Stowe Secondard School. Contested Plymouth Sutton 2001, 2005.
Linda Gilroy(Labour) born 1949, Moffat, Scotland. Educated at Stirling High School and the University of Edinburgh. Previously deputy director of Age Concern and regional manager for the Gas Consumers` Council. Contested Devon East and Plymouth in the 1994 European Elections. Contested Cornwall South East in 1992. First elected for Plymouth Sutton in 1997. Was PPS to Nick Raynsford in the 2001-5 Parliament (more information at They work for you)
Judy Evans (Liberal Democrat) Plastic surgeon. Contested South West Devon 2005.
Tony Brown (Green)
Andrew Leigh (UKIP) Born 1964, Malta. Educated at Wellington School and Royal Naval Engineering College. Self employed chartered financial planner.Robert Hawkins (Socialist Labour) Brian Gerrish (Independent)2001 Census Demographics
Total 2001 Population: 97740
Male: 50.1%
Female: 49.9%
Under 18: 19.8%
Over 60: 18.9%
Born outside UK: 6%
White: 97.4%
Black: 0.3%
Asian: 0.5%
Mixed: 0.9%
Other: 0.9%
Christian: 68.2%
Muslim: 0.7%
Full time students: 11.9%
Graduates 16-74: 16.6%
No Qualifications 16-74: 25.4%
Owner-Occupied: 54.8%
Social Housing: 21% (Council: 13.5%, Housing Ass.: 7.5%)
Privately Rented: 20.4%
Homes without central heating and/or private bathroom: 21.3%
I predict Con gain here
I understand that there have been several defections from LD to Labour in the city today. Good publicity for Labour but I still incline very slightly towards CON GAIN.
Not a great surprise.
But I would have expected the LD vote to retreat somewhat as they polled well in 2005, and as it was not a particularly easy seat for the Tories, thought they would be squeezed.
Let’s play a game….spot the Labour MP in the South West of England!!! I think that they are down to 5.
I can only see 4. 1 in Plymouth, Exeter and 2 in Bristol.
yes, just 4 in SW (Seaback, Bradshaw, Primarolo and McCarthy). And also just 4 in SE
They nearly held Stroud though which was a good result.
Stroud actually had the highest Labour share of the vote of all the seats in the SW
yes,
I thought Stroud might be a bit closer 2 years or so ago, but not from April 2008 onwards,
perhaps David Drew was a good MP or they squeezed the LD vote,
There was an interesting article in the Plymouth Herald last week on the subject of the election expenses of those standing in the city back in May. For me the big surprise is the vast amounts spent by UKIP (£30,000 here and £21,000 in Moor View) to little real effect. Of the £30k spent here apparently “UKIP paid about £28,000 for advertisements on Plymouth buses and the rent on a high-profile ’shop’ on Mutley Plain”. I reckon a sum of that size could have been better spent.
Of the candidates from the main parties “Mr Colvile spent less than £12,000 in a campaign that ran from early January this year, well short of Mrs Gilroy’s £20,000″. So much for poor diddums Labour candidates losing out to high spending Tories bankrolled by that nasty old Lord Ashcroft.
On the subject of Lord Ashcroft I thought for a long time that the party should have told him to get stuffed and keep his money, as his ambiguous tax status provided valuable ammunition for the opposition. It’s not even as if the party desperately needed his money.
In answer to the discussion about Plymouth on the Tiverton and Honiton thread, the (almost) entire reason for the swings between 1987 and 1992 was david Owen’s refusal to join the Liberal Democrats, continuing his rump SDP (which had considerable support in Plymouth, the city having taken Owen to its heart as one of its MPs). There had been hardly any Liberal support for years in the city, unlike the rest of Devon and Cornwall, and much SDP support actually reverted in 1992.
It might have swung back to a Labour/Con contest anyway.
Tim 13 clearly believes the destruction of the Lib/SDP Alliance was all Dr Owen’s fault and if he hadn’t opposed merger, the Labour Party would never have recovered.
I do not.
I fully agreed with the merger for the reasons suggested by David Steel at the time, Joe. At that point in time one party was needed, not two. It was up to David Owen what he personally wanted to do. Yes, his activities split the former members of the Alliance (as to a lesser extent did the continuing Meadowcroft Liberals). But Owen’s influence as a former Cabinet minister was much greater, and by fighting on to the (very) bitter end being beaten into fifth place at one of the Bootle byelections, he delayed the take off of the merged party.
I don’t believe that Labour would never have recovered, but the jury is very much out on whether it would have recovered sufficiently for a victory in 1997 (and certainly a near victory in 1992).