Mid Sussex (UK Parliament constituency)

Mid Sussex is a constituency[n 1] represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament from 2019 by Mims Davies, a Conservative.[2][n 2] She is currently a minister in the Department for Work and Pensions.

This article is about the parliamentary constituency. For other uses, see Mid Sussex.

Mid Sussex
County constituency
for the House of Commons
Outline map
Boundary of Mid Sussex in West Sussex
Outline map
Location of West Sussex within England
CountyWest Sussex
Electorate85,140 (December 2019)[1]
Major settlementsEast Grinstead, Haywards Heath and Burgess Hill
Current constituency
Created1974 (1974)
Member of ParliamentMims Davies (Conservative)
SeatsOne
Created fromEast Grinstead and Lewes

Constituency profile

The constituency is in the north east of West Sussex bordering East Sussex, containing relatively small villages and the towns of East Grinstead, Haywards Heath and Burgess Hill, all of which have green buffers preventing them from being contiguous and rail connections to Brighton, London Gatwick Airport and the City of London. The motorway network is also close by, the M23 providing access to this, west of the main towns.

Income levels are on average considerably higher than the national average[3] and levels of rented[4] and social housing[3] are below the national average, particularly levels seen in cities.

Boundaries

1974–1983: The Urban Districts of Burgess Hill and Cuckfield, and the Rural District of Cuckfield.

1983–1997: The District of Mid Sussex wards of Ardingly, Bolney, Burgess Hill Chanctonbury, Burgess Hill Franklands, Burgess Hill North, Burgess Hill St Andrews, Burgess Hill Town, Burgess Hill West, Clayton, Cuckfield, East Grinstead East, East Grinstead North, East Grinstead South, East Grinstead West, Haywards Heath Ashenground, Haywards Heath Bentswood, Haywards Heath Franklands, Haywards Heath Harlands, Haywards Heath Heath, Horsted Keynes, Hurstpierpoint, Keymer, Lindfield Rural, Lindfield Urban, and West Hoathly.

1997–2010: The District of Mid Sussex wards of Ardingly, Burgess Hill Chanctonbury, Burgess Hill Franklands, Burgess Hill North, Burgess Hill St Andrews, Burgess Hill Town, Burgess Hill West, Cuckfield, East Grinstead East, East Grinstead North, East Grinstead South, East Grinstead West, Haywards Heath Ashenground, Haywards Heath Bentswood, Haywards Heath Franklands, Haywards Heath Harlands, Haywards Heath Heath, Horsted Keynes, Lindfield Rural, Lindfield Urban, and West Hoathly.

2010–present: The District of Mid Sussex wards of Ashurst Wood, Bolney, Burgess Hill Dunstall, Burgess Hill Franklands, Burgess Hill Leylands, Burgess Hill Meeds, Burgess Hill St Andrews, Burgess Hill Victoria, Cuckfield, East Grinstead Ashplats, East Grinstead Baldwins, East Grinstead Herontye, East Grinstead Imberhorne, East Grinstead Town, Haywards Heath Ashenground, Haywards Heath Bentswood, Haywards Heath Franklands, Haywards Heath Heath, Haywards Heath Lucastes, High Weald, and Lindfield.

History

The constituency was created in 1974 from parts of the seats of Lewes and East Grinstead, and has undergone significant boundary changes at every periodical review that it has been around for. Prior to 1973, the local government district had actually been a part of East Sussex, but as a result of delayed implementation of the Local Government Act 1972, it was almost wholly moved into West Sussex.

At the 1983 general election, it gained some of the wards (including East Grinstead itself) previously contained in the East Grinstead constituency (which disappeared at that election, its last MP Geoffrey Johnson Smith contested and won the new seat of Wealden in East Sussex), and at the 1997 election, it gained many of the semi-rural wards with smaller communities between East Grinstead and Crawley.

From its creation in 1983 to the present, it has been a Conservative seat, with the primary opposition until the 2015 election being the Liberal Democrats and their predecessors the Liberal Party. In 2015, there was a severe fall in Liberal Democrats support. Labour's candidate come second in the seat for the first time in its history. In 2017, Labour consolidated this lead at the 2017 General Election by gaining almost double the votes of the Liberal Democrats.

In the 2016 European Union referendum, Mid Sussex voted for the United Kingdom to remain a member of the European Union. Despite this, Soames called for MPs to back Theresa May's withdrawal agreement. However, he was one of the 21 Conservative rebels who voted to allow Parliament to vote to legislate to prevent a no deal Brexit on 3 September 2019, and subsequently became an independent, after the rebels had the Conservative whip removed. He then decided not to stand for re-election although he had the whip restored before dissolution.[5]

Members of Parliament
ElectionMember[6] Party
Feb 1974 Tim Renton Conservative
1997 Sir Nicholas Soames Conservative
2019 Independent
Conservative
2019 Mims Davies Conservative

Elections

Elections in the 2010s
General election 2019: Mid Sussex[7]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Mims Davies 33,455 53.3 −3.6
Liberal Democrats Robert Eggleston 15,258 24.3 +11.6
Labour Gemma Bolton 11,218 17.9 −7.1
Green Deanna Nicholson 2,234 3.6 +1.1
Monster Raving Loony Baron Von Thunderclap 550 0.9 +0.1
Advance Brett Mortensen 47 0.1 New
Majority 18,197 29.0 −2.9
Turnout 62,762 73.7 +0.9
Conservative hold Swing −7.6
  • Davies had served as Member of Parliament for Eastleigh from 2015 until the 2019 election was called.
General election 2017: Mid Sussex[8][9]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Nicholas Soames 35,082 56.9 +0.8
Labour Greg Mountain 15,409 25.0 +11.1
Liberal Democrats Sarah Osborne 7,855 12.7 +1.2
Green Chris Jerrey 1,571 2.5 −1.8
UKIP Toby Brothers 1,251 2.0 −10.0
Monster Raving Loony Baron Von Thunderclap 464 0.8 +0.2
Majority 19,673 31.9 −10.3
Turnout 61,632 72.8 +0.5
Conservative hold Swing −5.15
General election 2015: Mid Sussex[10][11]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Nicholas Soames 32,268 56.1 +5.4
Labour Greg Mountain 7,982 13.9 +7.3
UKIP Toby Brothers 6,898 12.0 +9.5
Liberal Democrats Daisy Cooper[12] 6,604 11.5 −26.0
Green Miranda Diboll[13] 2,453 4.3 +3.1
Independent Beki Adam[14] 958 1.7 New
Monster Raving Loony Baron Von Thunderclap 329 0.6 +0.1
Majority 24,286 42.2 +29.0
Turnout 57,492 72.3 −0.1
Conservative hold Swing −0.95
General election 2010: Mid Sussex[15]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Nicholas Soames 28,329 50.7 +2.5
Liberal Democrats Serena Tierney 20,927 37.5 +1.8
Labour David Boot 3,689 6.6 –6.2
UKIP Marc Montgomery 1,423 2.5 –0.7
Green Paul Brown 645 1.2 New
BNP Stuart Minihane 583 1.0 New
Monster Raving Loony Baron von Thunderclap 259 0.5 New
Majority 7,402 13.2 +0.7
Turnout 55,855 72.4 +0.35
Conservative hold Swing +1.3

Elections in the 2000s
General election 2005: Mid Sussex
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Nicholas Soames 23,765 48.0 +1.8
Liberal Democrats Serena Tierney 17,875 36.1 +5.0
Labour Robert Fromant 6,280 12.7 −6.3
UKIP Harold Piggott 1,574 3.2 +0.7
Majority 5,890 11.9 -3.2
Turnout 49,494 68.6 +3.7
Conservative hold Swing −1.6
General election 2001: Mid Sussex
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Nicholas Soames 21,150 46.2 +2.7
Liberal Democrats Lesley Wilkins 14,252 31.1 +0.5
Labour Paul Mitchell 8,693 19.0 +0.4
UKIP Petrina Holdsworth 1,126 2.5 +1.4
Monster Raving Loony Baron Von Thunderclap Berry 601 1.3 New
Majority 6,898 15.1 +2.2
Turnout 45,822 64.9 −12.7
Conservative hold Swing

Elections in the 1990s
General election 1997: Mid Sussex[16]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Nicholas Soames 23,231 43.5 −15.5
Liberal Democrats Margaret Collins 16,377 30.6 +2.4
Labour Mervyn Hamilton 9,969 18.6 +8.0
Referendum Tam Large 3,146 5.9 New
UKIP J.V. Barnett 606 1.1 New
Justice and Renewal Independent Party Ernest Tudway 134 0.3 New
Majority 6,854 12.9 -17.9
Turnout 53,463 77.6
Conservative hold Swing

This constituency underwent boundary changes between the 1992 and 1997 general elections and thus change in share of vote is based on a notional calculation.

General election 1992: Mid Sussex[17]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Tim Renton 39,524 59.0 −2.1
Liberal Democrats Margaret Collins 18,996 28.4 −3.1
Labour L C Gregory 6,951 10.4 +3.0
Green H G Stevens 772 1.1 New
Monster Raving Loony P B Berry 392 0.6 New
Independent P D Hodkin 246 0.4 New
Natural Law A M A Hankey 89 0.1 New
Majority 20,528 30.6 +1.0
Turnout 66,970 82.9 +5.7
Conservative hold Swing

Elections in the 1980s
General election 1987: Mid Sussex
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Tim Renton 37,781 61.1 −0.3
Liberal Nicholas Westbrook 19,489 31.5 −0.8
Labour Robert Hughes 4,573 7.4 +1.4
Majority 18,292 29.6 +0.5
Turnout 61,843 77.2 +2.5
Conservative hold Swing
General election 1983: Mid Sussex
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Tim Renton 35,310 61.4
Liberal J M Campbell 18,566 32.3
Labour P A Hawkes 3,470 6.0
Independent J Bray 196 0.3
Majority 16,744 29.1
Turnout 57,542 74.7
Conservative hold Swing

This constituency underwent boundary changes between the 1979 and 1983 general elections and thus calculation of the change in share of vote is not possible.

Elections in the 1970s
General election 1979: Mid Sussex
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Tim Renton 32,548 61.2 +7.3
Liberal J M Campbell 11,705 22.0 -6.1
Labour Des Turner 8,260 15.5 -2.5
Ind. Conservative S M H Haslett 697 1.3 New
Majority 20,843 39.2 +13.4
Turnout 53,210 78.0 +1.6
Conservative hold Swing
General election October 1974: Mid Sussex
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Tim Renton 25,126 53.9 -0.2
Liberal Bob Symes 13,129 28.1 -1.9
Labour M R Fraser 8,404 18.0 +2.2
Majority 11,997 25.8 +1.7
Turnout 46,659 76.4 -6.9
Conservative hold Swing
General election February 1974: Mid Sussex
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Tim Renton 27,317 54.1
Liberal Bob Symes 15,162 30.0
Labour M R Fraser 7,993 15.8
Majority 12,155 24.1
Turnout 50,472 83.3
Conservative win (new seat)

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. "Sussex Mid parliamentary". BBC News. 13 December 2019. Retrieved 13 December 2019.
  2. "Sussex Mid Parliamentary constituency". BBC.
  3. "Local statistics – Office for National Statistics". ons.gov.uk.
  4. "2011 census interactive maps". Archived from the original on 29 January 2016.
  5. Tan, Rebecca (4 September 2019). "Winston Churchill's grandson to be expelled from Tory Party for voting against Boris Johnson". The Independent. London. Archived from the original on 14 May 2022.
  6. Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "S" (part 6)
  7. "Sussex Mid Parliamentary constituency". BBC News. Retrieved 13 December 2019.
  8. "Loony Party Candidates". Retrieved 7 May 2017.
  9. "Sussex Mid". Election 2017. BBC. 9 June 2017. Retrieved 13 June 2017.
  10. "Election Data 2015". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 17 October 2015. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
  11. "Sussex Mid parliamentary constituency – Election 2017". BBC.
  12. "Daisy Cooper PPC page". Liberal Democrats. Retrieved 21 February 2015.
  13. "Mid Sussex and Crawley Green Party | Local party elects Prospective Parliamentary Candidates for Horsham and Mid Sussex". Archived from the original on 21 December 2014. Retrieved 2 December 2014.
  14. "Mid Sussex". YourNextMP. Archived from the original on 21 February 2015. Retrieved 21 February 2015.
  15. "Election Data 2010". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 26 July 2013. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
  16. "'Sussex Mid', May 1997 -". ElectionWeb Project. Cognitive Computing Limited. Retrieved 18 May 2016.
  17. "Politics Resources". Election 1992. Politics Resources. 9 April 1992. Archived from the original on 24 July 2011. Retrieved 6 December 2010.

Sources

51.033°N 0.115°W / 51.033; -0.115

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