Yeovil
Notional 2005 Results:
Liberal Democrat: 25625 (52.5%)
Conservative: 16212 (33.2%)
Labour: 5132 (10.5%)
Other: 1832 (3.8%)
Majority: 9413 (19.3%)
Actual 2005 result
Conservative: 17096 (34.3%)
Labour: 5256 (10.5%)
Liberal Democrat: 25658 (51.4%)
UKIP: 1903 (3.8%)
Majority: 8562 (17.2%)
2001 Result
Conservative: 17338 (36%)
Labour: 7077 (14.7%)
Liberal Democrat: 21266 (44.2%)
UKIP: 1131 (2.3%)
Green: 786 (1.6%)
Other: 534 (1.1%)
Majority: 3928 (8.2%)
1997 Result
Conservative: 14946 (27.7%)
Labour: 8053 (14.9%)
Liberal Democrat: 26349 (48.7%)
Referendum: 3574 (6.6%)
Other: 1131 (2.1%)
Majority: 11403 (21.1%)
Boundary changes:
Profile:
Outgoing MP: David Laws(Liberal Democrat) (more information at They work for you)
Candidates: Kevin Davis (Conservative) born Kingston. Chief Executive of a national disability charity. Former leader of Kingston council. Contested Kingston and Surbiton in 2005. Lee Skevington (Labour) David Laws(Liberal Democrat) (more information at They work for you)Nigel Pearson (UKIP)Robert Baehr (BNP)
2001 Census Demographics
Total 2001 Population: 99352
Male: 48.9%
Female: 51.1%
Under 18: 22%
Over 60: 24.4%
Born outside UK: 3.5%
White: 98.8%
Black: 0.2%
Asian: 0.3%
Mixed: 0.5%
Other: 0.3%
Christian: 77.5%
Full time students: 1.6%
Graduates 16-74: 15.4%
No Qualifications 16-74: 27.4%
Owner-Occupied: 73.8%
Social Housing: 15.1% (Council: 6.3%, Housing Ass.: 8.7%)
Privately Rented: 6.8%
Homes without central heating and/or private bathroom: 10.6%
There were local elections. Labour got about 22% althoght they only contested half the wards. It may be their vote was more evenly spread if they happened to put up lots of candidates in places like Wincanton, but I dint have the detail. I am absolutely convinced though that the notional result is incorrect – it looks like they have just said that new Yeovil has 78% of the elctorate of the old Yeovil and redcued all the parties’ votes to 78% of their total.
As it happens Somerset is one of those counties for which I have worked out ward results going back to 1983. Im not totally sure of the exact boundary but think it was coterminous with the South Somerset district. If that is so the result in 1983 was:
Con 38886 48.5 %
LD 36555 45.6 %
Lab 4771 5.9 %
Of course with the extra effort put in by Ashdown in the ‘Somerton’ area, he may have overcome that anyway but it is possible that with out the boudnary changes we may have been spared his awful sanctimoniousness altogether
Yes, if only.
He really is the caricature of that revolting sanctimonious trait – I’m sure it was a turn off in 1992.
Interesting that Labour had some votes in Chard. It was clearly very squeezed by the LDs in 2005 CC.
Just noticed that the lovely Castle Carey was LD by 11 votes in 2005 CC. Hopefully that is about to change. (in the Somerton & Frome seat I think).
2007 Castle Cary
Con 1868 55.9 %
LD 1472 44.1 %
Thanks for the figures Pete – efficient as ever.
Cary ward itself was neck and neck LDs came top and bottom of the poll with two Tories in between so one elected from each party. The CC division though also includes the Camelot ward which was heavily Tory. I think this should be one of several gains in Somerset in June.
Lib Dems will hold this seat, its an iconic seat for them, it was Paddy Ashdowns seat, somthing tells me they wont loose this seat without a fight.
In reponse to Liberal North’s comments it occured to me that The conservatives used to say that about Finchley having been a reliable seat for them and represented by an even more high profile party leader at one time….
I do conceed that it is more than likely they Lib Dems will retain this seat comfortably although the majority may be trimmed a bit next time around. Given the nature of the town I was always surprised Labour didn’t do better in Yeovil.
Labour had a solid near-30% share of the vote before Ashdown dramatically siphened it off in 1983 with one of the biggest tactical votes ever seen in a general election, reducing the Labour vote to about 5%.
Castle Cary has a very popular Liberal Democrat councillor in henry Hobhouse, a local family with a deep history in the area. The amount of work he does, I will say castle cary will be a LibDem hold. Yeovil itself, is a safe LD seat, apart from it having tremendous structure to its local party, David Laws is an excellent MP.
Yes my opinion, but thats my reasoning.
I’d have thought there was chance
of a swing to the Conservatives reducing
the majority to something quite low.
Castle Cary has nothing to do with this seat and if they are voting for David Laws in Castle Cary then they are very confused.
As someone who lives there I have to tell you the Lib Dem are very unpopular in Yeovil – they upset a lot of local people with their plans to build a sports centre on an green space – one of the few left.
The LD’smanaged to hold most of the (Yeovil) town divisions in the CC elections from what I gather.
Euro result for South Somerset District:
C – 31.3% (-1.7%)
LD – 27.2% (+2.1)
UKIP – 19.6% (-2.1%)
Green – 6.6% (+0.8%)
BNP – 4.0% (+1.1%)
Lab – 3.1% (-4.6%)
Change of Labour PPC – new candidate is Lee Skevington, a director of a web consultancy company.
Note on the Somerset County elections, the only division which moved from Lib Dem to Conservative was South Petherton. There was a decent swing to the Conservatives in Coker, but elsewhere in the constituency there wasn’t much shift in the Lib Dem vote.
Which seats have included East Coker?