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List of parliamentary constituencies in Bedfordshire

(Redirected from List of Parliamentary constituencies in Bedfordshire)

The ceremonial county of Bedfordshire (which comprises Bedford, Central Bedfordshire and Luton unitary authorities) is split into 7 seats – 2 borough and 5 county constituencies.[nb 1]

A small county slightly to the south and east of the centre of the country, and completely bounded by other counties.
The county of Bedfordshire in relation to England

Constituencies

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Further information: 2024 United Kingdom general election

  † Conservative †   ‡ Labour ‡

Name[nb 2] Electorate[1] Majority[2][nb 3] Member of Parliament[2] Nearest opposition[2] Electoral wards[3][4] Map
Bedford BC 70,068 9,430   Mohammad Yasin ‡   Pinder Chauhan † Bedford Borough Council: Brickhill, Castle, Cauldwell, De Parys, Goldington, Harpur, Kempston Central and East, Kempston North, Kempston South, Kempston West, Kingsbrook, Newnham, Putnoe, Queen's Park.
 
Dunstable and Leighton Buzzard CC 74,069 667   Alex Mayer ‡   Andrew Selous † Central Bedfordshire Council: Dunstable Central, Dunstable-Icknield, Dunstable-Manshead, Dunstable-Northfields, Dunstable-Watling, Heath and Reach, Houghton Hall, Leighton Buzzard North, Leighton Buzzard South, Linslade, Parkside, Tithe Farm.
 
Hitchin CC[nb 4] 72,112 7,109   Alistair Strathern ‡   Bim Afolami † Central Bedfordshire Council: Arlesey, Shefford, Stotfold and Langford. North Hertfordshire District Council: Cadwell, Chesfield, Hitchin Bearton, Hitchin Highbury, Hitchin Oughton, Hitchin Priory, Hitchin Walsworth, Hitchwood, Offa and Hoo, Kimpton.
 
Luton North BC 73,266 7,510   Sarah Owen ‡   Jilleane Brown † Luton Borough Council: Barnfield, Bramingham, Challney, Ickfield, Leagrave, Lewsey, Limbury, Northwell, Saints, Stopsley, Sundon Park.
 
Luton South and South Bedfordshire CC 70,197 6,858   Rachel Hopkins ‡   Mark Versallion † Central Bedfordshire Council: Caddington, Eaton Bay. Luton Borough Council: Biscot, Crawley, Dallow, Farley, High Town, Round Green, South, Wigmore.
 
Mid Bedfordshire CC 71,748 1,321   Blake Stephenson †   Maahwish Mirza ‡ Bedford Borough Council: Elstow and Stewartby, Wilshamstead, Wootton. Central Bedfordshire Council: Ampthill, Aspley and Woburn, Barton-le-Clay, Cranfield and Marston Moretaine, Flitwick, Houghton Conquest and Haynes, Silsoe and Shillington, Toddington, Westoning, Flitton and Greenfield.
 
North Bedfordshire CC 76,319 5,414   Richard Fuller †   Uday Nagaraju ‡ Bedford Borough Council: Bromham and Biddenham, Clapham, Eastcotts, Great Barford, Harrold, Kempston Rural, Oakley, Riseley, Sharnbrook, Wyboston. Central Bedfordshire Council: Biggleswade North, Biggleswade South, Northill, Potton, Sandy.
 

Boundary changes

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2024

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For the 2023 Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies, which redrew the constituency map ahead of the 2024 United Kingdom general election, the Boundary Commission for England opted to combine Bedfordshire with Hertfordshire as a sub-region of the East of England region, with the creation of the cross-county boundary constituency of Hitchin. As a result of the changes, Luton South was renamed Luton South and South Bedfordshire, North East Bedfordshire renamed North Bedfordshire, and South West Bedfordshire renamed Dunstable and Leighton Buzzard.[5]

Former name Boundaries 2010-2024 Current name Boundaries 2024–present
  1. Bedford BC
  2. Luton North BC
  3. Luton South BC
  4. Mid Bedfordshire CC
  5. North East Bedfordshire CC
  6. South West Bedfordshire CC
 
2010-2024 constituencies in Bedfordshire
  1. Bedford BC
  2. Dunstable and Leighton Buzzard CC
  3. Hitchin CC
  4. Luton North BC
  5. Luton South and South Bedfordshire CC
  6. Mid Bedfordshire CC
  7. North Bedfordshire CC
 
Current constituencies in Bedfordshire

2010

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Under the Fifth Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies, the Boundary Commission for England decided to retain Bedfordshire's constituencies for the 2010 election, making minor changes to realign constituency boundaries with the boundaries of current local government wards, and to reduce the electoral disparity between constituencies.

Name Boundaries 1997-2010 Boundaries 2010–present
  1. Bedford BC
  2. Luton North BC
  3. Luton South BC
  4. Mid Bedfordshire CC
  5. North East Bedfordshire CC
  6. South West Bedfordshire CC
 
Parliamentary constituencies in Bedfordshire 1997 – 2005
 
Parliamentary constituencies in Bedfordshire 2010–present

Results history

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Primary data source: House of Commons research briefing – General election results from 1918 to 2019[6]

2024

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The number of votes cast for each political party who fielded candidates in constituencies comprising Bedfordshire in the 2024 general election were as follows:[nb 5][2]

Party Votes % Change from 2019 Seats Change from 2019
Labour 114,813 36.8%  2.6% 5  2
Conservative 88,794 28.0%  21.8% 2  1
Reform UK 45,831 14.4%  13.2% 0 0
Liberal Democrats 29,346 9.2%  0.2% 0 0
Greens 17,092 5.4%  2.5% 0 0
Others 13,447 4.2%  1.2% 0 0
Workers Party of Britain 8,020 2.5% New 0 New
Total 317,343 100.0 7

2019

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The number of votes cast for each political party who fielded candidates in constituencies comprising Bedfordshire in the 2019 general election were as follows:

Party Votes % Change from 2017 Seats Change from 2017
Conservative 156,973 49.8%  0.5% 3 0
Labour 107,591 34.2%  7.8% 3 0
Liberal Democrats 28,276 9.0%  4.4% 0 0
Greens 9,126 2.9%  1.0% 0 0
Brexit 3,712 1.2% new 0 0
Others 9,318 3.0%  1.7% 0 0
Total 314,996 100.0 6

Percentage votes

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Election year 1950 1951 1955 1959 1964 1966 1970 1974

(Feb)

1974

(Oct)

1979 1983 1987 1992 1997 2001 2005 2010 2015 2017 2019 2024
Labour 42.4 45.3 44.7 38.8 43.9 45.6 40.9 34.0 37.3 32.9 22.6 24.2 30.3 44.0 42.8 34.2 27.1 29.5 42.0 34.2 36.2
Conservative1 44.5 49.7 53.5 49.9 47.8 43.8 50.5 39.7 40.4 51.3 51.0 54.2 53.2 38.6 39.4 40.6 44.7 47.2 50.3 49.8 28.0
Reform UK2 – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – 1.2 14.4
Liberal Democrat3 13.0 4.9 1.8 11.2 8.0 10.3 8.4 26.2 22.2 14.8 26.3 21.1 14.8 12.8 14.8 20.3 20.3 5.6 4.6 9.0 9.2
Green Party – – – – – – – – – – – * * * * * 0.7 3.6 1.9 2.9 5.4
UKIP – – – – – – – – – – – – – * * * 3.8 13.5 0.8 * *
Workers Party of Britain – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – - 2.5
Other 0.1 – – – 0.3 0.3 0.2 0.1 0.1 1.0 0.1 0.4 1.7 4.6 3.1 4.9 3.5 0.6 0.4 2.9 4.2

1 Includes National Liberal Party up to 1966

2 2019: as the Brexit Party –

3 1950-1979 - Liberal ; 1983 & 1987 – SDP-Liberal Alliance

* Included in Other

Seats

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Election year 1950 1951 1955 1959 1964 1966 1970 1974

(Feb)

1974

(Oct)

1979 1983 1987 1992 1997 2001 2005 2010 2015 2017 2019 2024
Conservative1 3 4 4 4 3 1 4 3 3 5 5 5 5 3 3 3 4 4 3 3 2
Labour 1 0 0 0 1 3 0 2 2 0 0 0 0 3 3 3 2 2 3 3 5
Total 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 5 5 5 5 5 5 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 7

1Includes National Liberal Party up to 1966

Maps

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1885-1910

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1918-1945

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1950-1979

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1983-present

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Timeline

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  Former constituency   Current constituency

Constituency 1295–1885 1885–1918 1918–1950 1950–1974 1974–1983 1983–1997 1997–2024 2024–present
Bedfordshire 1295–1885
Bedford 1295–1983 1997–present
North Bedfordshire 1983–1997 2024–present
North East Bedfordshire 1997–2024
Biggleswade 1885–1918
Mid Bedfordshire 1918–present
South Bedfordshire 1950–1983
South West Bedfordshire 1983–2024
Dunstable and Leighton Buzzard 2024-present
Luton 1885–1974
Luton East 1974–1983
Luton West 1974–1983
Luton North 1983–present
Luton South 1983–2024
Luton South and South Bedfordshire 2024–present

Historical representation by party

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A cell marked → (with a different colour background to the preceding cell) indicates that the previous MP continued to sit under a new party name.

1802 to 1837

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  Conservative   Tory   Whig

Constituency 1802 1806 1807 1812 15 1818 1820 1826 1830 1831 1832 34 1835
Bedford Antonie G. Russell Polhill Crawley
S. Whitbread Waldegrave W. Whitbread Polhill
Bedfordshire Osborn FitzPatrick F. Russell C. Russell
St John Pym Osborn Pym Macqueen Stuart Payne Stuart → Egerton

1837 to 1885

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  Conservative   Liberal   Whig

Constituency 1837 38 1841 47 1847 51 1852 54 1857 1859 1865 1868 72 1874 75 1880
Bedford Stuart Crawley H. Stuart W. Stuart Barnard W. Stuart Howard Polhill-Turner Magniac
Polhill Verney Whitbread →
Bedfordshire C. Russell Astell C. Russell F. Russell → Bassett G. Russell
Egerton Gilpin Howard

1885 to 1918

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  Conservative   Liberal   Liberal Unionist

Constituency 1885 1886 1892 92 1895 1900 1906 Jan 1910 Dec 1910 11
Bedford Whitbread Pym Barlow Attenborough Kellaway
Biggleswade Magniac Baring Russell Compton Black
Luton Flower Whitbread Ashton Harmsworth

1918 to 1974

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  Coalition Liberal (1918–22) / National Liberal (1922–23)   Conservative   Labour   Liberal   National Liberal (1931–68)

Constituency 1918 1922 1923 1924 1929 31 1931 1935 1945 1950 1951 1955 1959 60 63 1964 1966 1970
Bedford Kellaway Wells Skeffington-Lodge Soames Parkyn Skeet
Bedfordshire Mid Townley Linfield Warner Gray Lennox-Boyd Hastings
Bedfordshire South Moeran Cole → Roberts Madel
Luton Harmsworth Hewett Howard O'Connor Burgin → Warbey Hill Howie Simeons

1974 to 1997

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  Conservative   Labour

Constituency Feb 1974 Oct 1974 1979 1983 1987 1992
Bedford / North Bedfordshire (1983) Skeet
Bedfordshire Mid Hastings Lyell
Bedfordshire South / South West Bedfordshire (1983) Madel
Luton East / Luton South (1983) Clemitson Bright
Luton West / Luton North (1983) Sedgemore Carlisle

1997 to present

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  Change UK   Conservative   Independent   The Independents   Labour

Constituency 1997 2001 2005 2010 2015 2017 17 19 2019 23 2024
Bedford Hall Fuller Yasin
Bedfordshire Mid Sayeed Dorries Strathern Stephenson
North East Bedfordshire / N Bedfordshire (2024) Lyell Burt Fuller
SW Bedfordshire / Dunstable & Leighton Buzzard ('24) Madel Selous Mayer
Luton South / Luton S & S Bedfordshire (2024) Moran Shuker → → R. Hopkins
Luton North K. Hopkins → Owen

See also

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Notes

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  1. ^ Hitchin is a cross-county boundary constituency, mostly covering areas of northern Hertfordshire but also containing electoral wards in Central Bedfordshire.
  2. ^ BC denotes borough constituency, CC denotes county constituency.
  3. ^ The majority is the number of votes the winning candidate receives more than their nearest rival.
  4. ^ Hitchin is a cross-county boundary constituency, mostly covering areas of northern Hertfordshire but also containing electoral wards in Central Bedfordshire.
  5. ^ It should be acknowledged that as Hitchin is a cross-county constituency between Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire, and the results of UK elections on sub-constituency levels are not disclosed, the following vote shares include parts of the Hitchin constituency located in Hertfordshire

References

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  1. ^ "The 2023 Review of Parliamentary Constituency Boundaries in England - Volume two: Constituency names, designations and composition - Eastern". Boundary Commission for England.
  2. ^ a b c d "Constituencies A-Z – Election 2024". BBC News. Retrieved 8 July 2024.
  3. ^ "The Parliamentary Constituencies (England) Order 2007, page 4". Office of Public Sector Information. Crown copyright. 13 June 2007. Retrieved 7 November 2009.
  4. ^ Boundary Commission for England pp. 1004–1007
  5. ^ "The 2023 Review of Parliamentary Constituency Boundaries in England – Volume one: Report | Boundary Commission for England". paras 193-206. Retrieved 9 July 2023.
  6. ^ Watson, Christopher; Uberoi, Elise; Loft, Philip (17 April 2020). "General election results from 1918 to 2019". {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
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