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Totnes

2010 Results:
Conservative: 21940 (45.86%)
Labour: 3538 (7.4%)
Liberal Democrat: 17013 (35.56%)
BNP: 624 (1.3%)
UKIP: 2890 (6.04%)
Green: 1181 (2.47%)
Independent: 657 (1.37%)
Majority: 4927 (10.3%)

Notional 2005 Results:
Conservative: 19990 (43.1%)
Liberal Democrat: 17268 (37.2%)
Labour: 5391 (11.6%)
Other: 3718 (8%)
Majority: 2722 (5.9%)

Actual 2005 result
Conservative: 21112 (41.7%)
Labour: 6185 (12.2%)
Liberal Democrat: 19165 (37.9%)
UKIP: 3914 (7.7%)
Other: 199 (0.4%)
Majority: 1947 (3.8%)

2001 Result
Conservative: 21914 (44.5%)
Labour: 6005 (12.2%)
Liberal Democrat: 18317 (37.2%)
UKIP: 3010 (6.1%)
Majority: 3597 (7.3%)

1997 Result
Conservative: 19637 (36.5%)
Labour: 8796 (16.4%)
Liberal Democrat: 18760 (34.9%)
Referendum: 2552 (4.7%)
Other: 4024 (7.5%)
Majority: 877 (1.6%)

Boundary changes: Boundaries in the Torbay part of the seat are adjusted to take account of ward boundaries, with the seat gaining part of Blatchcombe, Churston-with-Galmpton and losing part of Clifton-with-Maidenway. The seat loses Ashburton and Buckfastleigh to Central Devon, and the area around Denbury to Newton Abbot.

Profile: A picturesque seat on the South Devon coast, it takes in Brixham at the southern end of Torbay – the “English riveria”, the small market and coastal towns of South Devon with their thriving tourist industry and up onto the edges of Dartmoor.

The main town are Kingsbridge, Salcombe, Dartmouth, Totnes and Brixham. Tourism is the main industry throughout the area, and like most south coast tourist towns, a high proportion of people have come here to retire, and the constituency has one of the highest proportions of over 60s in the country. In Salcombe in particular, which is also popular for sailing and yachting, this has pushed property prices up to some of highest outside London. Salcombe and Brixham also retain active fishing industies. Totnes itself has something of a bohemian and artisitic reputation and the town has introduced it`s own local currency, the Totnes Pound.

The constituency has been represented by Conservative MP Anthony Steen since its re-creation in 1997 (as had its predecessor, South Hams, since 1983), though the Liberal Democrats are in a close second place. With Steen stepping down at the next election, the Conservative candidate for the seat is being chosen in an open primary using a full postal ballot of all Totnes voters, a first in British politics.

portraitCurrent MP: Sarah Wollaston (Conservative) Educated at Guy`s Hospital. GP, lecturer and former forensic medical examiner. Selected as the Conservative candidate in the UK`s first full postal open primary in 2009.

2010 election candidates:
portraitSarah Wollaston (Conservative) Educated at Guy`s Hospital. GP, lecturer and former forensic medical examiner. Selected as the Conservative candidate in the UK`s first full postal open primary in 2009.
portraitCarol Whitty (Labour) Former headteacher. Formerly deputy general secretary of the NAHT.
portraitJulian Brazil (Liberal Democrat) Educated at Bristol University. Science teacher. Devon County councillor and South Hams district councillor. Contested Brent South 1997, Falmouth and Camborne in 2001.
portraitLydia Somerville (Green) Teacher. Contested Wiltshire North 1992.
portraitJeffrey Beer (UKIP)
portraitMichael Turner (BNP)
portraitStephen Hopwood (Independent) Qualified doctor and alternative practitioner.
portraitSimon Drew (Independent)

2001 Census Demographics

Total 2001 Population: 82544
Male: 47.6%
Female: 52.4%
Under 18: 19.8%
Over 60: 30.6%
Born outside UK: 4.1%
White: 99.1%
Mixed: 0.5%
Other: 0.2%
Christian: 74.6%
Full time students: 2.3%
Graduates 16-74: 19.1%
No Qualifications 16-74: 27.4%
Owner-Occupied: 74.7%
Social Housing: 11.8% (Council: 2.8%, Housing Ass.: 9%)
Privately Rented: 9.8%
Homes without central heating and/or private bathroom: 12.2%

NB - Candidates lists are provisional, based on candidates declared before the campaign. They will be updated to reflect the final list of candidates as soon as possible following the close of nominations.

173 Responses to “Totnes”

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  1. Brazil will get stuffed by UKIP! Watch it happen – swift, professional and deadly

  2. The South Devon Green Party is to split ! It seems the Totnes Greens are to split from the rest of SDGP.

  3. LibDem Lennie, on the contrary to your opinion oliver was raised int he SW and was on the Mid Devon coucil whilst raising a family single handedly for a time. She only moved to London to gain credibility. She was driven and ambitious, she made an effort in the constituency, and as far as i gathered from various sources her words were misprinted/misintepreted. She in fact merely remarked on the fact that the voters were saying Steen was “past it”. She was unfortunate to fight an election where there were few anti-European candidates, unlike the 97 election where there were 4 or 5.
    Personally i feel she was the best candidate yet, she should have been given another shot, but alas….

  4. Totnes Greens took a third seat on the town council on 11th March winning over 50% of the vote.

    http://southdevon.greenparty.org.uk/news/111

  5. Cons Hold= 4,000 maj

  6. Con Hold

    Maj 5300

  7. Con maj 4,000

  8. I’m going to stick my neck out here and predict a Lib Dem GAIN – majority 250, on the back of the recent surge in support.

    I do have humble pie on hand just in case!

  9. Pingback: Will UKIP lose Tories Totnes, or will the Greens hinder the Lib Dems… « Liberal Twitter Hound

  10. Bex, please note. South Devon Green Party is re-organising – not splitting – due to it’s 1,300% increase in membership over the last two years!

  11. Keith, I know there are issues because people close to Green Party members have told me so. There is clearly something going on when there is this little spat …
    http://www.totnes-today.co.uk/tn/news.cfm?id=4139

    http://www.thisissouthdevon.co.uk/news/Council-hopeful-minute-stand-Green-rift/article-1771582-detail/article.html

    Then there is the former Green Party PPC for Torbay having her party membership revoked. She claimed she was ousted because she has criticised the administration of the South Devon group.

    http://www.thisissouthdevon.co.uk/news/Witch-s-poll-hopes-dashed-rejection-Greens/article-1831746-detail/article.html

  12. Lib Dems to sneek it but only by a couple of 100

    I’m not 100% confident of that byt that what the national swiing would suggest on a 35-29-29 end result

  13. I see Ladbrokes in The Times have the Tories as favourite (with Labour fifth), but Fink Tank in The Times has the Lib Dems as favourites.

  14. “I’m not 100% confident of that byt that what the national swiing would suggest on a 35-29-29 end result”

    Those figures imply a 2% swing from Con to LD which would actually not be enough to take this seat. Of course in reality the movement of votes compared with 2005 is all from Labour with both Tories and LDs up but there is precious little Labour vote here to start with so the LDs would need a direct swing from the Conservatives

  15. I am inclined to think that the Open Primary System may help Sarah Wollaston to hold the seat

  16. This may be the case Peter, however the postal vote was taken at a time when politics was not high on the agenda and in the spotlight for all the wrong reasons.

    Julian will benefit from an awful lot of local support, and rightly so, he has been a very good councillor and in my view would present a very good voice for the constituency.

    My problem is in leadership.. Undoubtedly there is only one man for the job and I feel that Nick Clegg lacks the charisma and therefore political presence that would be required on a world political stage.

    Best of luck to you Julian, you have my full backing. I only hope we come out of this a stronger and better nation, with a future that we can all get behind and make some real progress.

  17. CON HOLD but not by much

  18. It ended up being a fairly comfortable Tory hold.

    Share of the vote up to 45.9%
    The majority up to 4,927 (10.3%)

  19. Does anyone know which ward Stoke Gabriel is in, on South Hams district?

    There used to be a ward of this name.

    Thanks.

  20. Its in East Dart. The old Stoke Gabriel ward was abolished in 1999.

  21. Thanks – I see East Dart Conservative in May 2007.

  22. Labour only 648 votes ahead of UKIP.

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