North Somerset
County constituency for the House of Commons
North Somerset in Somerset
Location of Somerset within England
County	Somerset
Electorate	78,469 (2018)[1]
Major settlements	Clevedon, Nailsea and Portishead
Current constituency
Created	2010
Member of Parliament	Liam Fox (Conservative)
Seats	One
Created from	Woodspring
1950–1983
Created from	Frome and Weston-super-Mare
Replaced by	Woodspring, Wansdyke and Wells[2]
1885–1918
Created from	East Somerset
Replaced by	Frome and Weston-super-Mare

North Somerset is a constituency^{[n 1]} represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2010 by Liam Fox, a Conservative who served as Secretary of State for International Trade, a new position in the Cabinet, from 2016 to 2019.^{[n 2]}

History

Earlier versions of the seat existed in 1885–1918 and 1950–1983.

First creation

Parliament passed the Redistribution of Seats Act 1885 creating the larger constituency of North Somerset from the 1885 general election, which was later abolished for the 1918 general election.

Second creation

North Somerset was re-established for the 1950 general election, and abolished again for the 1983 general election.

Third creation

Following the review of parliamentary representation in the North Somerset district by the Boundary Commission for England, the former Woodspring constituency was renamed as North Somerset without substantial boundary changes.^[3]

Boundaries

1885–1918: The Sessional Divisions of Keynsham, Long Ashton, and Temple Cloud, and the civil parishes of Binegar, Chilcompton, and Midsomer Norton.

1950–1983: The Urban Districts of Keynsham, Norton Radstock, and Portishead, the Rural Districts of Bathavon and Clutton, and part of the Rural District of Long Ashton.

2010–present: The District of North Somerset wards of Backwell, Clevedon Central, Clevedon East, Clevedon North, Clevedon South, Clevedon Walton, Clevedon West, Clevedon Yeo, Easton-in-Gordano, Gordano, Nailsea East, Nailsea North and West, Pill, Portishead Central, Portishead Coast, Portishead East, Portishead Redcliffe Bay, Portishead South and North Weston, Portishead West, Winford, Wraxall and Long Ashton, Wrington, and Yatton.

Constituency profile

This is essentially the former Woodspring seat with a new name. A coastal strip between the Severn Estuary and the M5 motorway includes the towns of Clevedon and Portishead, while inland from the motorway is the town of Nailsea and a predominantly rural area dotted with villages. This is a fairly affluent constituency with average incomes and low proportion of unemployment claimants^[4] – about a third of the population commute to work, mostly in Bristol and Bath.^[5]

The Woodspring seat returned Conservative MPs, and had been held by Fox since 1992. Fox won the new constituency by nearly 14 percentage points over the Liberal Democrats in 2010, while Labour took second place in 2015 and 2017.

Members of Parliament

Elections

Election results 1885–1918

Elections in the 1880s

Strachey

General election 1885: North Somerset^[12][13][14]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Evan Henry Llewellyn	4,170	54.4
	Liberal	Edward Strachey	3,491	45.6
Majority			679	8.8
Turnout			7,661	75.0
Registered electors			10,209
	Conservative win (new seat)

General election 1886: North Somerset^[12][13]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Evan Henry Llewellyn	4,252	67.1	+12.7
	Liberal	James Dormer Marshall[15]	2,087	32.9	-12.7
Majority			2,165	34.2	+25.4
Turnout			6,339	62.1	-12.9
Registered electors			10,209
	Conservative hold		Swing	+12.7

Elections in the 1890s

Warner

General election 1892: North Somerset^[12][13]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Courtenay Warner	3,920	50.1	+17.2
	Conservative	Evan Henry Llewellyn	3,901	49.9	−17.2
Majority			19	0.2	N/A
Turnout			7,821	77.5	+15.4
Registered electors			10,086
	Liberal gain from Conservative		Swing	+17.2

General election 1895: North Somerset^[12][13][16]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Evan Henry Llewellyn	4,652	54.0	+4.1
	Liberal	Courtenay Warner	3,966	46.0	-4.1
Majority			686	8.0	N/A
Turnout			8,618	84.4	+6.9
Registered electors			10,208
	Conservative gain from Liberal		Swing	+4.1

Elections in the 1900s

General election 1900: North Somerset^[12][13][16]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Even Llewellyn	4,530	53.0	−1.0
	Liberal	William Hope	4,014	47.0	+1.0
Majority			516	6.0	−2.0
Turnout			8,544	80.0	−4.4
Registered electors			10,682
	Conservative hold		Swing	−1.0

Hope

General election 1906: North Somerset^[12][13]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	William Hope	6,626	60.2	+13.2
	Conservative	William Mason	4,380	39.8	-13.2
Majority			2,246	20.4	N/A
Turnout			11,006	88.9	+8.9
Registered electors			12,381
	Liberal gain from Conservative		Swing	+13.2

Elections in the 1910s

King

General election January 1910: North Somerset^[12][17]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Joseph King	6,568	53.2	-7.0
	Conservative	Frank Beachim Beauchamp	5,768	46.8	+7.0
Majority			800	6.4	-14.0
Turnout			12,336	91.4	+2.5
	Liberal hold		Swing	-7.0

General election December 1910: North Somerset^[12][17]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Joseph King	6,299	53.9	+0.7
	Conservative	Frank Beachim Beauchamp	5,378	46.1	-0.7
Majority			921	7.8	+1.4
Turnout			11,677	86.5	-4.9
	Liberal hold		Swing	+0.7

General Election 1914–15:

Another General Election was required to take place before the end of 1915. The political parties had been making preparations for an election to take place and by July 1914, the following candidates had been selected;

• Liberal: Joseph King
• Unionist: J Windsor Levis^[18]

See also

• List of parliamentary constituencies in Avon

Notes

References