West Worcestershire (UK Parliament constituency)

Template:Short description Template:Use dmy dates Template:Infobox UK constituency main West Worcestershire is a constituency^{[n 1]} in Worcestershire represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2010 by Harriett Baldwin, a Conservative.^{[n 2]}

The constituency first existed from 1832 to 1885, formally known as the Western Division of Worcestershire, electing two MPs.

The current constituency, created in 1997, is considered a safe seat for the Conservatives, having been a marginal with the Liberal Democrats from 1997 to 2010. The constituency boundaries roughly correspond with the Malvern Hills District.

Boundaries

1832–1885

The Petty Sessional Divisions of Upton, Worcester, Hundred House and Kidderminster, and the City and County of the City of Worcester.^[1]

1997–2010

The District of Malvern Hills wards of Baldwin, Broadheath, Chase, Hallow, Kempsey, Langland, Laugherne Hill, Leigh and Bransford, Link, Longdon, Martley, Morton, Powick, Priory, Ripple, Temeside, The Hanleys, Trinity, Upton-on-Severn, Wells, West, and Woodbury; and
The District of Wychavon wards of Bredon, Eckington, Elmley Castle, Pershore Holy Cross, Pershore St Andrew's, Somerville, and South Bredon Hill.

2010–present

Under the Fifth periodic review of Westminster constituencies, the constituency was defined as comprising:

The District of Malvern Hills; and
the District of Wychavon wards of: Bredon, Eckington, Elmley Castle and Somerville, Pershore, and South Bredon Hill.

Boundary changes added an area including Tenbury Wells to the seat (formerly in the Leominster constituency) and transferred the small shared part of the Fladbury ward to the Mid Worcestershire seat.^[2]

As a result of a local government boundary review in Wychavon,^[3]^[4] which did not affect the parliamentary boundaries, the seat now comprises the following from May 2023:

The District of Malvern Hills; and
the District of Wychavon wards of: Bredon; Bredon Hill; Broadway, Sedgeberrow & Childswickham (small part); Eckington; Pershore;^[5]

The 2023 Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies, which was based on the ward structure in place at 1 December 2020, left the boundaries unchanged.^[6]

West Worcestershire stretches from the Gloucestershire border in the south almost to Shropshire in the north, taking in Pershore and Bredon Hill in its eastern side. Its other major towns are Malvern in the west and Upton-upon-Severn in the centre.

Constituency profile

The constituency boundaries roughly correspond with the Malvern Hills District. The seat is known for its hilly landscape: with products such as regional speciality cheeses, drinks and mineral water, a major economic sector is tourism and leisure. However, the principal industries are in agriculture; food; chemicals; distribution; waste and mineral processing; printing and publishing; and transport and retail.

Workless claimants who were registered jobseekers were in November 2012 significantly lower than the national average of 3.8%, at 2.1% of the population based on a statistical compilation by The Guardian.^[7]

The seat was broadly in line with the UK average in the 2016 referendum on the UK's status with the EU, with an estimated 52 to 53% voting to Leave.^[8]

History

1832–1885

West Worcestershire formally, the Western division of Worcestershire, was created the first time for the 1832 general election, by the Reform Act 1832 which radically changed the boundaries of many British parliamentary constituencies. It was created by the division of the old Worcestershire constituency (which had existed since 1290) into two new two-member constituencies: West Worcestershire and East Worcestershire.

During this first creation, three members of the Lygon family, the Earls Beauchamp (pronounced Beecham) represented the constituency – their large country estate in the county had its seat at Madresfield Court near the heart of Madresfield village.

The constituency then existed, basically unchanged, until its abolition by the Redistribution of Seats Act 1885 for the 1885 general election, when the constituency's territory was variously incorporated into the seats of Bewdley, Droitwich, Evesham, East Worcestershire and North Worcestershire.

1997–present

The seat was re-established for the 1997 general election on Parliament's approval of the Boundary Commission's fourth periodic review. It comprised the majority of the abolished constituency of South Worcestershire (excluding the town of Evesham), together with a small area transferred from Leominster.

Political history

In the first four elections the seat (in this modern creation) alternated between Conservative majorities that were quite marginal (7.8% and 5.3%) and those that were greater than 10%, at 12% and 12.7%, close to average in terms of security for any of the three largest parties. As never having had a majority that exceeded 15% of the vote and having had two marginal majorities to date, the seat could not be classified as safe.

After the 2015 UK general election, this marginal profile between the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats drastically changed after the Liberal Democrats' share of the vote fell markedly, leaving West Worcestershire as a safe Conservative seat since, with the Conservatives easily achieving 50% of the vote share each election. However, by the time of the 2024 general election, the Liberal Democrats had recovered to come within 12% of the Conservatives once again, after the latter's vote share slumped to 36.2%.

Members of Parliament

MPs 1832–1885

Worcestershire West

Election	First member^[9]		First party	Second member^[9]		Second party
1832	rowspan="2" style="color:inherit;background-color: Template:Party color" \|	Hon. Henry Lygon^{[n 3]}	Tory^[10]	style="color:inherit;background-color: Template:Party color" \|	Hon. Thomas Foley	Whig^[10]
1833 by-election	rowspan="2" style="color:inherit;background-color: Template:Party color" \|		Tory^[10]	Henry Winnington	Whig^[10]^[11]
1834	rowspan="2" style="color:inherit;background-color: Template:Party color" \|		Conservative^[10]	Henry Winnington	Whig^[10]^[11]
1841	rowspan="5" style="color:inherit;background-color: Template:Party color" \|		Conservative^[10]	Frederick Knight	Conservative^[10]
1853 by-election	style="color:inherit;background-color: Template:Party color" \|	The Viscount Elmley^{[n 4]}	Conservative
1863 by-election	style="color:inherit;background-color: Template:Party color" \|	Hon. Frederick Lygon	Conservative
1866 by-election	style="color:inherit;background-color: Template:Party color" \|	William Dowdeswell	Conservative
1876 by-election	style="color:inherit;background-color: Template:Party color" \|	Sir Edmund Lechmere, Bt	Conservative
1885	constituency abolished

MPs since 1997

South Worcestershire prior to 1997

Election		Member^[9]	Party
style="color:inherit;background-color: Template:Party color" \|	1997	Sir Michael Spicer	Conservative
style="color:inherit;background-color: Template:Party color" \|	2010	Harriett Baldwin	Conservative