Hertford and Stortford | |
---|---|
County constituency for the House of Commons | |
Boundaries since 2024 | |
![]() Boundary of Hertford and Stortford in the East of England | |
County | Hertfordshire |
Electorate | 79,255 (December 2010) [1] |
Major settlements | Hertford, Bishop's Stortford, Ware |
Current constituency | |
Created | 1983 |
Member of Parliament | TBC ( TBC) |
Seats | One |
Created from | Hertfordshire East and Hertford and Stevenage [2] |
Hertford and Stortford is a constituency [n 1] currently represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2019 by Julie Marson of the Conservative Party. [n 2]
The constituency is semi-rural and includes picturesque villages and farmland. The rivers Rib, Beane, Mimram, and Lea all meet in the county town of Hertford (2011 population 25,000), which is protected from over-development by a Green Belt encircling the town and separating it from Ware (18,000) in the western part of the constituency. Farms continue between Ware and the market town of Bishop's Stortford (40,000), in the north east corner of the seat.
Hertford and Stortford constituency is generally regarded as an affluent seat,[ citation needed] and includes a significant proportion of professional and managerial workers.[ citation needed] Central London is within commuting distance by train of all the towns in the constituency. The pharmaceutical industry is a major employer in the seat and surrounding areas: both Ware and Harlow are the sites of GlaxoSmithKline facilities (while Gilston hosted Merck & Co. between 1982 and 2006). Since the early 1990s, Stansted, just beyond the eastern perimeter of the constituency, has also been responsible for bringing jobs and an improved train service to it.
Many commuters live in Bishop's Stortford, which has rail links to London's Liverpool Street station and is also close to Stansted Airport. Since the 1980s, the population of Thorley – now a southern suburb of Stortford – has become composed increasingly of owner-occupied houses in dormitory estates.
The seat has been held by the Conservative Party, with comfortable majorities, since its creation.
The new constituency combined Hertford and Ware, from the abolished constituency of Hertford and Stevenage, with Bishop's Stortford, Sawbridgeworth and rural areas to the west, from the abolished constituency of East Hertfordshire.
The villages of Stanstead Abbotts and Great Amwell transferred from Broxbourne. Northern, rural areas transferred to the new constituency of North East Hertfordshire.
Marginal changes due to revision of local authority wards.
Further to the 2023 Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies, which came into effect for the 2024 general election, the composition of the constituency was reduced to meet the electorate size requirements, with the transfer of the three small wards of Great Amwell, Hertford Heath and Stanstead Abbots (as they existed on 1 December 2020) to Broxbourne. [6]
Following a local government boundary review which came into effect in May 2023, [7] [8] the constituency now comprises the following wards of the District of East Hertfordshire from the 2024 general election:
Hertfordshire East and Hertford and Stevenage prior to 1983
Election | Member [10] | Party | |
---|---|---|---|
1983 | Bowen Wells | Conservative | |
2001 | Mark Prisk | Conservative | |
2019 | Julie Marson | Conservative |
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Reform UK | John Burmicz [12] | ||||
Liberal Democrats | Helen Campbell [13] | ||||
Green | Nick Cox [14] | ||||
Labour | Josh Dean [15] | ||||
Alliance for Democracy and Freedom | Jane Fowler | ||||
Heritage | Barry Hensall | ||||
Conservative | Julie Marson [16] | ||||
Majority | |||||
Turnout |
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Conservative | Julie Marson | 33,712 | 56.1 | ![]() | |
Labour | Chris Vince | 14,092 | 23.4 | ![]() | |
Liberal Democrats | Chris Lucas | 8,596 | 14.3 | ![]() | |
Green | Lucy Downes | 2,705 | 4.5 | ![]() | |
UKIP | Alistair Lindsay | 681 | 1.1 | New | |
Independent | Brian Percival | 308 | 0.5 | New | |
Majority | 19,620 | 32.7 | ![]() | ||
Turnout | 60,094 | 72.9 | ![]() | ||
Conservative hold | Swing | ![]() |
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Conservative | Mark Prisk | 36,184 | 60.3 | ![]() | |
Labour | Katherine Chibah | 17,149 | 28.6 | ![]() | |
Liberal Democrats | Mark Argent | 4,845 | 8.1 | ![]() | |
Green | David Woollcombe | 1,814 | 3.0 | ![]() | |
Majority | 19,035 | 31.7 | ![]() | ||
Turnout | 59,992 | 72.8 | ![]() | ||
Conservative hold | Swing | ![]() |
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Conservative | Mark Prisk | 31,593 | 56.1 | ![]() | |
Labour | Katherine Chibah | 10,084 | 17.9 | ![]() | |
UKIP | Adrian Baker | 7,534 | 13.4 | ![]() | |
Liberal Democrats | Michael Green | 4,385 | 7.8 | ![]() | |
Green | Sophie Christophy | 2,681 | 4.8 | New | |
Majority | 21,509 | 38.2 | ![]() | ||
Turnout | 56,277 | 71.3 | ![]() | ||
Conservative hold | Swing | ![]() |
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Conservative | Mark Prisk | 29,810 | 53.8 | ![]() | |
Liberal Democrats | Andrew Lewin | 14,373 | 26.0 | ![]() | |
Labour | Stephen Terry | 7,620 | 13.8 | ![]() | |
UKIP | David Sodey | 1,716 | 3.1 | ![]() | |
BNP | Roy Harris | 1,297 | 2.3 | New | |
Independent | Loucas Xenophontos | 325 | 0.6 | New | |
Independent | Martin Adams | 236 | 0.4 | New | |
Majority | 15,437 | 27.8 | ![]() | ||
Turnout | 55,377 | 70.6 | ![]() | ||
Conservative hold | Swing | ![]() |
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Conservative | Mark Prisk | 25,074 | 50.5 | +5.8 | |
Labour | Richard Henry | 11,977 | 24.1 | −8.7 | |
Liberal Democrats | James Lucas | 9,129 | 18.4 | −1.5 | |
Green | Peter Hart | 1,914 | 3.9 | New | |
UKIP | David Sodey | 1,026 | 2.1 | −0.5 | |
Veritas | Debbie Le May | 572 | 1.2 | New | |
Majority | 13,097 | 26.4 | +14.5 | ||
Turnout | 49,692 | 67.7 | +5.5 | ||
Conservative hold | Swing | +7.2 |
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Conservative | Mark Prisk | 21,074 | 44.7 | +0.6 | |
Labour | Simon Spellar | 15,471 | 32.8 | +1.4 | |
Liberal Democrats | Mione Goldspink | 9,388 | 19.9 | +2.2 | |
UKIP | Stuart Rising | 1,243 | 2.6 | +0.4 | |
Majority | 5,603 | 11.9 | -0.8 | ||
Turnout | 47,176 | 62.2 | -13.3 | ||
Conservative hold | Swing |
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Conservative | Bowen Wells | 24,027 | 44.1 | ||
Labour | Simon Spellar | 17,142 | 31.4 | ||
Liberal Democrats | Michael Wood | 9,679 | 17.7 | ||
Referendum | Hugo Page Croft | 2,105 | 3.9 | ||
UKIP | B G Smalley | 1,233 | 2.2 | ||
ProLife Alliance | Michael Franey | 259 | 0.5 | ||
Majority | 6,885 | 12.7 | |||
Turnout | 54,571 | 75.5 | |||
Conservative hold | Swing |
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Conservative | Bowen Wells | 35,716 | 57.5 | 0.0 | |
Liberal Democrats | CJ White | 15,506 | 25.0 | −3.3 | |
Labour | AJ Bovaird | 10,125 | 16.3 | +3.5 | |
Green | JA Goth | 780 | 1.3 | −0.1 | |
Majority | 20,210 | 32.5 | +3.3 | ||
Turnout | 62,127 | 81.0 | +3.3 | ||
Conservative hold | Swing | +1.7 |
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Conservative | Bowen Wells | 33,763 | 57.5 | +1.5 | |
SDP | Ronald Wotherspoon | 16,623 | 28.3 | -2.8 | |
Labour Co-op | Patricia Sumner | 7,494 | 12.8 | +0.8 | |
Green | Graham Cole | 814 | 1.4 | New | |
Majority | 17,140 | 29.2 | +4.3 | ||
Turnout | 58,694 | 77.7 | +2.1 | ||
Conservative hold | Swing | +2.2 |
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Conservative | Bowen Wells | 29,039 | 56.0 | ||
SDP | Ronald Wotherspoon | 16,110 | 31.1 | ||
Labour | John Carr | 6,203 | 12.0 | ||
BNP | G Wiles | 304 | 0.6 | ||
Prosperity For All | P Cullen | 221 | 0.4 | ||
Majority | 12,929 | 24.9 | |||
Turnout | 51,877 | 75.6 | |||
Conservative win (new seat) |
Hertford and Stortford | |
---|---|
County constituency for the House of Commons | |
Boundaries since 2024 | |
![]() Boundary of Hertford and Stortford in the East of England | |
County | Hertfordshire |
Electorate | 79,255 (December 2010) [1] |
Major settlements | Hertford, Bishop's Stortford, Ware |
Current constituency | |
Created | 1983 |
Member of Parliament | TBC ( TBC) |
Seats | One |
Created from | Hertfordshire East and Hertford and Stevenage [2] |
Hertford and Stortford is a constituency [n 1] currently represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2019 by Julie Marson of the Conservative Party. [n 2]
The constituency is semi-rural and includes picturesque villages and farmland. The rivers Rib, Beane, Mimram, and Lea all meet in the county town of Hertford (2011 population 25,000), which is protected from over-development by a Green Belt encircling the town and separating it from Ware (18,000) in the western part of the constituency. Farms continue between Ware and the market town of Bishop's Stortford (40,000), in the north east corner of the seat.
Hertford and Stortford constituency is generally regarded as an affluent seat,[ citation needed] and includes a significant proportion of professional and managerial workers.[ citation needed] Central London is within commuting distance by train of all the towns in the constituency. The pharmaceutical industry is a major employer in the seat and surrounding areas: both Ware and Harlow are the sites of GlaxoSmithKline facilities (while Gilston hosted Merck & Co. between 1982 and 2006). Since the early 1990s, Stansted, just beyond the eastern perimeter of the constituency, has also been responsible for bringing jobs and an improved train service to it.
Many commuters live in Bishop's Stortford, which has rail links to London's Liverpool Street station and is also close to Stansted Airport. Since the 1980s, the population of Thorley – now a southern suburb of Stortford – has become composed increasingly of owner-occupied houses in dormitory estates.
The seat has been held by the Conservative Party, with comfortable majorities, since its creation.
The new constituency combined Hertford and Ware, from the abolished constituency of Hertford and Stevenage, with Bishop's Stortford, Sawbridgeworth and rural areas to the west, from the abolished constituency of East Hertfordshire.
The villages of Stanstead Abbotts and Great Amwell transferred from Broxbourne. Northern, rural areas transferred to the new constituency of North East Hertfordshire.
Marginal changes due to revision of local authority wards.
Further to the 2023 Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies, which came into effect for the 2024 general election, the composition of the constituency was reduced to meet the electorate size requirements, with the transfer of the three small wards of Great Amwell, Hertford Heath and Stanstead Abbots (as they existed on 1 December 2020) to Broxbourne. [6]
Following a local government boundary review which came into effect in May 2023, [7] [8] the constituency now comprises the following wards of the District of East Hertfordshire from the 2024 general election:
Hertfordshire East and Hertford and Stevenage prior to 1983
Election | Member [10] | Party | |
---|---|---|---|
1983 | Bowen Wells | Conservative | |
2001 | Mark Prisk | Conservative | |
2019 | Julie Marson | Conservative |
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Reform UK | John Burmicz [12] | ||||
Liberal Democrats | Helen Campbell [13] | ||||
Green | Nick Cox [14] | ||||
Labour | Josh Dean [15] | ||||
Alliance for Democracy and Freedom | Jane Fowler | ||||
Heritage | Barry Hensall | ||||
Conservative | Julie Marson [16] | ||||
Majority | |||||
Turnout |
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Conservative | Julie Marson | 33,712 | 56.1 | ![]() | |
Labour | Chris Vince | 14,092 | 23.4 | ![]() | |
Liberal Democrats | Chris Lucas | 8,596 | 14.3 | ![]() | |
Green | Lucy Downes | 2,705 | 4.5 | ![]() | |
UKIP | Alistair Lindsay | 681 | 1.1 | New | |
Independent | Brian Percival | 308 | 0.5 | New | |
Majority | 19,620 | 32.7 | ![]() | ||
Turnout | 60,094 | 72.9 | ![]() | ||
Conservative hold | Swing | ![]() |
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Conservative | Mark Prisk | 36,184 | 60.3 | ![]() | |
Labour | Katherine Chibah | 17,149 | 28.6 | ![]() | |
Liberal Democrats | Mark Argent | 4,845 | 8.1 | ![]() | |
Green | David Woollcombe | 1,814 | 3.0 | ![]() | |
Majority | 19,035 | 31.7 | ![]() | ||
Turnout | 59,992 | 72.8 | ![]() | ||
Conservative hold | Swing | ![]() |
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Conservative | Mark Prisk | 31,593 | 56.1 | ![]() | |
Labour | Katherine Chibah | 10,084 | 17.9 | ![]() | |
UKIP | Adrian Baker | 7,534 | 13.4 | ![]() | |
Liberal Democrats | Michael Green | 4,385 | 7.8 | ![]() | |
Green | Sophie Christophy | 2,681 | 4.8 | New | |
Majority | 21,509 | 38.2 | ![]() | ||
Turnout | 56,277 | 71.3 | ![]() | ||
Conservative hold | Swing | ![]() |
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Conservative | Mark Prisk | 29,810 | 53.8 | ![]() | |
Liberal Democrats | Andrew Lewin | 14,373 | 26.0 | ![]() | |
Labour | Stephen Terry | 7,620 | 13.8 | ![]() | |
UKIP | David Sodey | 1,716 | 3.1 | ![]() | |
BNP | Roy Harris | 1,297 | 2.3 | New | |
Independent | Loucas Xenophontos | 325 | 0.6 | New | |
Independent | Martin Adams | 236 | 0.4 | New | |
Majority | 15,437 | 27.8 | ![]() | ||
Turnout | 55,377 | 70.6 | ![]() | ||
Conservative hold | Swing | ![]() |
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Conservative | Mark Prisk | 25,074 | 50.5 | +5.8 | |
Labour | Richard Henry | 11,977 | 24.1 | −8.7 | |
Liberal Democrats | James Lucas | 9,129 | 18.4 | −1.5 | |
Green | Peter Hart | 1,914 | 3.9 | New | |
UKIP | David Sodey | 1,026 | 2.1 | −0.5 | |
Veritas | Debbie Le May | 572 | 1.2 | New | |
Majority | 13,097 | 26.4 | +14.5 | ||
Turnout | 49,692 | 67.7 | +5.5 | ||
Conservative hold | Swing | +7.2 |
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Conservative | Mark Prisk | 21,074 | 44.7 | +0.6 | |
Labour | Simon Spellar | 15,471 | 32.8 | +1.4 | |
Liberal Democrats | Mione Goldspink | 9,388 | 19.9 | +2.2 | |
UKIP | Stuart Rising | 1,243 | 2.6 | +0.4 | |
Majority | 5,603 | 11.9 | -0.8 | ||
Turnout | 47,176 | 62.2 | -13.3 | ||
Conservative hold | Swing |
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Conservative | Bowen Wells | 24,027 | 44.1 | ||
Labour | Simon Spellar | 17,142 | 31.4 | ||
Liberal Democrats | Michael Wood | 9,679 | 17.7 | ||
Referendum | Hugo Page Croft | 2,105 | 3.9 | ||
UKIP | B G Smalley | 1,233 | 2.2 | ||
ProLife Alliance | Michael Franey | 259 | 0.5 | ||
Majority | 6,885 | 12.7 | |||
Turnout | 54,571 | 75.5 | |||
Conservative hold | Swing |
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Conservative | Bowen Wells | 35,716 | 57.5 | 0.0 | |
Liberal Democrats | CJ White | 15,506 | 25.0 | −3.3 | |
Labour | AJ Bovaird | 10,125 | 16.3 | +3.5 | |
Green | JA Goth | 780 | 1.3 | −0.1 | |
Majority | 20,210 | 32.5 | +3.3 | ||
Turnout | 62,127 | 81.0 | +3.3 | ||
Conservative hold | Swing | +1.7 |
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Conservative | Bowen Wells | 33,763 | 57.5 | +1.5 | |
SDP | Ronald Wotherspoon | 16,623 | 28.3 | -2.8 | |
Labour Co-op | Patricia Sumner | 7,494 | 12.8 | +0.8 | |
Green | Graham Cole | 814 | 1.4 | New | |
Majority | 17,140 | 29.2 | +4.3 | ||
Turnout | 58,694 | 77.7 | +2.1 | ||
Conservative hold | Swing | +2.2 |
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Conservative | Bowen Wells | 29,039 | 56.0 | ||
SDP | Ronald Wotherspoon | 16,110 | 31.1 | ||
Labour | John Carr | 6,203 | 12.0 | ||
BNP | G Wiles | 304 | 0.6 | ||
Prosperity For All | P Cullen | 221 | 0.4 | ||
Majority | 12,929 | 24.9 | |||
Turnout | 51,877 | 75.6 | |||
Conservative win (new seat) |