Meon Valley (UK Parliament constituency)

Meon Valley (/ˈmiːɒn/) is a parliamentary constituency[n 1] in Hampshire represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament by Flick Drummond, a Conservative, since 2019. It had previously been represented since its 2010 creation by George Hollingbery.[n 2]

Meon Valley
County constituency
for the House of Commons
Outline map
Boundary of Meon Valley in Hampshire for the 2010 general election
Outline map
Location of Hampshire within England
CountyHampshire
Electorate71,291 (December 2010)[1]
Major settlementsBishop's Waltham, Waterlooville, Wickham, Rowland's Castle
Current constituency
Created2010
Member of ParliamentFlick Drummond (Conservative)
SeatsOne
Created fromEast Hampshire, Havant, Winchester
Replaced byFareham and Waterlooville

The seat is due to be abolished for the next general election.[2]

Constituency profile

It is a generally rural constituency, and an affluent safe seat[3] for the Conservatives. The largest towns in the constituency are Waterlooville and Horndean.

Output areas in the area in 2001 displayed higher than average incomes overall compared to the national average.[4] In the 2011 census, incidence of home ownership and incidence of semi-detached and detached properties all exceeded the national average and were some of the highest figures for the region.[5]

Boundaries

This seat has been formed by the Boundary Commission for England as an extra constituency in Hampshire, with electoral wards from East Hampshire, Havant and Winchester districts.

  • From East Hampshire - the wards of Clanfield and Finchdean, Horndean Catherington and Lovedean, Horndean Downs, Horndean Hazleton and Blendworth, Horndean Kings, Horndean Murray and Rowlands Castle
  • From Havant - the wards of Cowplain, Hart Plain and Waterloo
  • From Winchester - the wards of Bishops Waltham, Boarhunt and Southwick, Cheriton and Bishops Sutton, Denmead, Droxford, Soberton and Hambledon, Owslebury and Curdridge, Shedfield, Swanmore and Newtown, Upper Meon Valley, Whiteley and Wickham

The wards included are largely from parts of the former Winchester and East Hampshire parliamentary seats with some 600 voters from the Havant constituency which is otherwise unchanged.

There is a proposal by the Boundary Commission to break up the Meon Valley constituency, with the parliamentary constituencies of Winchester, Fareham and East Hampshire taking over areas of the constituency. The plans will go through Parliament by July 2023.[6]

History

When created, the notional result was based on ward data from the previous seats' general election results. The new constituency takes in territory from the then Liberal Democrat-held Winchester and Conservative-held East Hampshire with uncertain swing between the two parties . Estimates were that the Conservative majority if the seat had existed in 2005 would have been around 2,000 votes. At the 2010 election however, the seat saw one of the largest Liberal Democrat to Conservative swings (9.4%), and the Conservative candidate George Hollingbery was elected with a majority of over 12,000. A similar swing was recorded in the neighbouring Winchester seat, which was a Conservative gain. It would now take a swing of almost 12% for any party to gain Meon Valley and more than 24% swing for Labour.

Following the 2015 general election it is one of the safest Conservative seats in the country.

Proposed abolition

Further to the completion of the 2023 Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies, the seat will be abolished for the next general election, with its contents distributed four ways:[2]

Members of Parliament
ElectionMember[7] Party
2010 Sir George Hollingbery Conservative
2019 Flick Drummond Conservative

Elections
Meon Valley elections

Elections in the 2010s
General election 2019: Meon Valley[8]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Flick Drummond 35,271 64.3 -1.4
Liberal Democrats Lewis North 11,716 21.4 +10.5
Labour Matthew Bunday 5,644 10.3 -8.0
Green Malcolm Wallace 2,198 4.0 +1.6
Majority 23,555 42.9 -4.5
Turnout 54,829 72.4 -0.7
Conservative hold Swing
General election 2017: Meon Valley[9]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative George Hollingbery 35,624 65.7 +4.6
Labour Sheena King 9,932 18.3 +7.4
Liberal Democrats Martin Tod 5,900 10.9 +1.3
UKIP Paul Bailey 1,435 2.6 -12.2
Green Andrew Hayward 1,301 2.4 -1.1
Majority 25,692 47.4 +1.1
Turnout 54,192 73.0 +1.9
Conservative hold Swing -1.4
General election 2015: Meon Valley[10]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative George Hollingbery[11] 31,578 61.1 +4.9
UKIP David Alexander[12] 7,665 14.8 +11.9
Labour Gemma McKenna 5,656 10.9 +4.5
Liberal Democrats Chris Carrigan 4,987 9.6 −23.0
Green Diana Wellings[13] (a.k.a. Diana Korchien[14]) 1,831 3.5 New
Majority 23,913 46.3 +22.7
Turnout 51,717 71.1 -1.6
Conservative hold Swing -3.5
General election 2010: Meon Valley[15][16]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative George Hollingbery 28,818 56.2 +10.4
Liberal Democrats Liz Leffman 16,693 32.6 −8.4
Labour Howard Linsley 3,266 6.4 −4.2
UKIP Steve Harris 1,490 2.9 +0.4
English Democrat Pat Harris 582 1.1 New
Animal Protection Sarah Coats 255 0.5 New
Independent Graeme Quar 134 0.3 New
Majority 12,125 23.6 +18.7
Turnout 51,238 72.7 +1.5
Conservative hold Swing +9.4

See also

Notes
  1. A county constituency (for the purposes of election expenses and type of returning officer)
  2. As with all constituencies, the constituency elects one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first past the post system of election at least every five years.

References
  1. "Electorate Figures - Boundary Commission for England". 2011 Electorate Figures. Boundary Commission for England. 4 March 2011. Archived from the original on 6 November 2010. Retrieved 13 March 2011.
  2. "The 2023 Review of Parliamentary Constituency Boundaries in England – Volume one: Report – South East | Boundary Commission for England". boundarycommissionforengland.independent.gov.uk. Retrieved 21 July 2023.
  3. UK Polling Report http://ukpollingreport.co.uk/2015guide/meonvalley/
  4. "Local statistics - Office for National Statistics". www.ons.gov.uk.
  5. "2011 census interactive maps". Archived from the original on 29 January 2016.
  6. "BCE Consultation Portal".
  7. Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "M" (part 2)
  8. "Meon Valley parliamentary constituency". BBC News.
  9. "Meon Valley parliamentary constituency". BBC News.
  10. "Election Data 2015". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 17 October 2015. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
  11. "UK ELECTION RESULTS: MEON VALLEY 2015".
  12. "UK Polling Report".
  13. "Prospective General Election Candidates | Green Party". Green Party Members' Website.
  14. "Diana Korchien for Meon Valley". www.facebook.com.
  15. "Election Data 2010". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 26 July 2013. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
  16. "BBC News | Election 2010 | Constituency | Meon Valley". news.bbc.co.uk.

50.900°N 1.024°W / 50.900; -1.024

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