West Worcestershire (UK Parliament constituency)

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]}

West Worcestershire
County constituency for the House of Commons
Boundaries since 2010
Boundary of West Worcestershire in West Midlands region
County	Worcestershire
Electorate	73,001 (December 2010)[1]
Major settlements	Malvern, Pershore, Tenbury Wells and Upton-upon-Severn
Current constituency
Created	1997
Member of Parliament	Harriett Baldwin (Conservative)
Seats	One
Created from	South Worcestershire, Leominster
1832–1885
Seats	Two
Type of constituency	County constituency
Created from	Worcestershire
Replaced by	Bewdley, Droitwich, Evesham, East Worcestershire and North Worcestershire

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.^[2]

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.^[3]

As a result of a local government boundary review in Wychavon,^[4][5] 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;^[6]

The 2023 Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies, which was based on the ward structure in place at 1 December 2020, left the boundaries unchanged.^[7]

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.^[8]

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.^[9]

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[10]		First party	Second member[10]		Second party
1832		Hon. Henry Lygon[n 3]	Tory[11]		Hon. Thomas Foley	Whig[11]
1833 by-election					Henry Winnington	Whig[11][12]
1834			Conservative[11]
1841					Frederick Knight	Conservative[11]
1853 by-election		The Viscount Elmley[n 4]	Conservative
1863 by-election		Hon. Frederick Lygon	Conservative
1866 by-election		William Dowdeswell	Conservative
1876 by-election		Sir Edmund Lechmere, Bt	Conservative
1885	constituency abolished

MPs since 1997

South Worcestershire prior to 1997

Election		Member[10]	Party
	1997	Sir Michael Spicer	Conservative
	2010	Harriett Baldwin	Conservative

Elections

Elections in the 2020s

General election 2024: West Worcestershire^[13]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Harriett Baldwin	19,783	36.2	−24.5
	Liberal Democrats	Dan Boatright	13,236	24.2	+6.1
	Labour	Kash Haroon	8,335	15.2	−1.3
	Reform UK	Christopher Edmondson	7,902	14.4	New
	Green	Natalie McVey	5,068	9.3	+4.6
	Party of Women	Seonaid Barber	363	0.7	New
Majority			6,547	12.0	−30.6
Turnout			54,687	69.0	−6.1
	Conservative hold		Swing	−15.3

Elections in the 2010s

General election 2019: West Worcestershire^[14]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Harriett Baldwin	34,909	60.7	−0.8
	Liberal Democrats	Beverley Nielsen	10,410	18.1	+8.7
	Labour	Samantha Charles	9,496	16.5	−7.2
	Green	Martin Allen	2,715	4.7	+1.9
Majority			24,499	42.6	+4.8
Turnout			57,530	75.4	−0.5
Registered electors			76,267
	Conservative hold		Swing

General election 2017: West Worcestershire^[15]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Harriett Baldwin	34,703	61.5	+5.4
	Labour	Samantha Charles	13,375	23.7	+10.3
	Liberal Democrats	Edward McMillan-Scott	5,307	9.4	−0.3
	Green	Natalie McVey	1,605	2.8	−3.7
	UKIP	Mike Savage	1,481	2.6	−11.8
Majority			21,328	37.8	−3.9
Turnout			56,471	75.9	+2.2
	Conservative hold		Swing

General election 2015: West Worcestershire^[16][17][18]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Harriett Baldwin	30,342	56.1	+5.7
	UKIP	Richard Chamings[19]	7,764	14.4	+10.5
	Labour	Daniel Walton	7,244	13.4	+6.6
	Liberal Democrats	Dennis Wharton	5,245	9.7	−28.0
	Green	Julian Roskams	3,505	6.5	+5.3
Majority			22,578	41.7	+29.0
Turnout			54,100	73.7	0.0
	Conservative hold		Swing

General election 2010: West Worcestershire^[20][21]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Harriett Baldwin	27,213	50.4	+5.4
	Liberal Democrats	Richard Burt	20,459	37.7	−1.2
	Labour	Penelope Barber	3,661	6.8	−3.7
	UKIP	Caroline Bovey	2,119	3.9	+0.7
	Green	Malcolm Victory	641	1.2	−1.2
Majority			6,754	12.7	+6.7
Turnout			53,993	73.7	+3.7
	Conservative hold		Swing	+3.3

Elections in the 2000s

General election 2005: West Worcestershire^[22]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Michael Spicer	20,959	44.5	−1.5
	Liberal Democrats	Tom Wells	18,484	39.3	+5.3
	Labour	Qamar Bhatti	4,945	10.5	−3.5
	UKIP	Caroline Bovey	1,590	3.4	−0.1
	Green	Malcolm Victory	1,099	2.3	−0.2
Majority			2,475	5.2	−6.8
Turnout			47,077	70.3	+3.2
	Conservative hold		Swing	−3.4

General election 2001: West Worcestershire^[23]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Michael Spicer	20,597	46.0	+1.0
	Liberal Democrats	Michael Hadley	15,223	34.0	−3.2
	Labour	Waquar Azmi	6,275	14.0	−1.7
	UKIP	Ian Morris	1,574	3.5	New
	Green	Malcolm Victory	1,138	2.5	+0.5
Majority			5,374	12.0	+4.2
Turnout			44,807	67.1	−9.2
	Conservative hold		Swing

Elections in the 1990s

General election 1997: West Worcestershire^[24]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Michael Spicer	22,223	45.0
	Liberal Democrats	Michael Hadley	18,377	37.2
	Labour	Neil Stone	7,738	15.7
	Green	Sue Cameron	1,006	2.0
Majority			3,846	7.8
Turnout			49,344	76.3
	Conservative win (new seat)

Elections in the 1880s

General election 1880: West Worcestershire (2 seats)^[25]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Edmund Lechmere	2,975	41.8	+0.3
	Conservative	Frederick Knight	2,913	40.9	+4.4
	Independent Liberal	Henry Richard Willis[26][27]	1,231	17.3	New
Majority			1,682	23.6	+9.1
Turnout			4,175 (est)	60.0 (est)	−9.2
Registered electors			6,962
	Conservative hold		Swing
	Conservative hold		Swing

Elections in the 1870s

By-election, 8 Jul 1876: West Worcestershire (1 seat)^[25]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Edmund Lechmere	Unopposed
	Conservative hold

• Caused by Dowdeswell's resignation.

General election 1874: West Worcestershire (2 seats)^[25]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	William Dowdeswell	2,910	41.5	N/A
	Conservative	Frederick Knight	2,554	36.5	N/A
	Liberal	George Hastings	1,540	22.0	New
Majority			1,014	14.5	N/A
Turnout			4,272 (est)	69.2 (est)	N/A
Registered electors			6,177
	Conservative hold		Swing	N/A
	Conservative hold		Swing	N/A

Elections in the 1860s

General election 1868: West Worcestershire (2 seats)^[25]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	William Dowdeswell	Unopposed
	Conservative	Frederick Knight	Unopposed
Registered electors			6,311
	Conservative hold
	Conservative hold

By-election, 24 March 1866: West Worcestershire^[25]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	William Dowdeswell	Unopposed
	Conservative hold

• Caused by Lygon's succession to the peerage, becoming 6th Earl Beauchamp.

General election 1865: West Worcestershire (2 seats)^[25]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Frederick Lygon	Unopposed
	Conservative	Frederick Knight	Unopposed
Registered electors			5,221
	Conservative hold
	Conservative hold

By-election, 26 October 1863: West Worcestershire^[25]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Frederick Lygon	Unopposed
	Conservative hold

• Caused by Lygon's succession to the peerage, becoming 5th Earl Beauchamp.

Elections in the 1850s

General election 1859: West Worcestershire (2 seats)^[25]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Henry Lygon	Unopposed
	Conservative	Frederick Knight	Unopposed
Registered electors			3,910
	Conservative hold
	Conservative hold

General election 1857: West Worcestershire (2 seats)^[25]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Henry Lygon	Unopposed
	Conservative	Frederick Knight	Unopposed
Registered electors			4,015
	Conservative hold
	Conservative hold

By-election, 28 February 1853: West Worcestershire (2 seats)^[25]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Henry Lygon	Unopposed
	Conservative hold

• Caused by Lygon's succession to the peerage, becoming 4th Earl Beauchamp

General election 1852: West Worcestershire (2 seats)^[25]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Henry Lygon	Unopposed
	Conservative	Frederick Knight	Unopposed
Registered electors			4,135
	Conservative hold
	Conservative hold

Elections in the 1840s

General election 1847: West Worcestershire (2 seats)^[25]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Henry Lygon	Unopposed
	Conservative	Frederick Knight	Unopposed
Registered electors			4,357
	Conservative hold
	Conservative hold

General election 1841: West Worcestershire (2 seats)^[25][11]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Henry Lygon	Unopposed
	Conservative	Frederick Knight	Unopposed
Registered electors			4,577
	Conservative hold
	Conservative gain from Whig

Elections in the 1830s

General election 1837: West Worcestershire (2 seats)^[25][11]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Conservative	Henry Lygon	Unopposed
	Whig	Henry Winnington	Unopposed
Registered electors			4,654
	Conservative hold
	Whig hold

General election 1835: West Worcestershire (2 seats)^[25][11]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Conservative	Henry Lygon	1,945	34.4
	Whig	Henry Winnington	1,938	34.3
	Conservative	John Pakington	1,773	31.3
Turnout			3,617	87.6
Registered electors			4,127
Majority			7	0.1
	Conservative hold
Majority			165	3.0
	Whig hold

By-election, 16 May 1833: West Worcestershire^[25][11]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Whig	Henry Winnington	1,369	51.7
	Tory	John Pakington	1,278	48.3
Majority			91	3.4
Turnout			2,647	84.8
Registered electors			3,122
	Whig hold

• Caused by Foley's succession to the peerage, becoming 4th Baron Foley

General election 1832: West Worcestershire (2 seats)^[25][11]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Tory	Henry Lygon	Unopposed
	Whig	Thomas Foley	Unopposed
Registered electors			3,122
	Tory win (new seat)
	Whig win (new seat)

See also

• List of parliamentary constituencies in Herefordshire and Worcestershire
• List of parliamentary constituencies in West Midlands (region)

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.
3. Later Earl Beauchamp
4. Viscount Elmley is a courtesy title given by the Earl Beauchamp to his eldest son, as his main subsidiary title.