The seat dates to the earliest century of regular parliaments, in 1295; it elected two MPs until 1885, electing one thereafter, before being altered by the Representation of the People Act 1918 (the later-termed "Fourth Reform Act", the first being in 1832). Currently, the electorate (the total of people eligible to vote) is much greater than the average nationwide (the electoral quota); this is termed under-apportionment of representation.
Constituency profileedit
The seat takes in the cathedral and university city of Canterbury, rural villages to the south, and the seaside resort of Whitstable to the north. Full time students make up around a quarter of the electorate.[4]
Historyedit
Constitutional status of seat
The widened Canterbury constituency was formed from an expansion of the narrow parliamentary borough (or simply borough) of the same name that existed from 1295 to 1918. This had elected two MPs from 1295 (the Model Parliament) until 1885, and then one until 1918.
From 1835 (where a Conservative was elected on petition) until 2017, the local electorate elected mostly candidates of the Conservative Party (with the exceptions of the elections of Independent UnionistFrancis Bennett-Goldney, MP from 1910 to 1918, and of a few Whigs or Liberals when Canterbury had two seats); the seat was recognised in the Guinness Book of World Records as the longest uninterrupted period of one party holding a Parliamentary seat. The election of Labour's Rosie Duffield, who won the seat by just 187 votes in the 2017 election, marked the end of a 185-year period of Canterbury almost always electing Conservative-allied MPs, the longest recorded unbroken record of party representation in British political history. Her victory in this election was largely credited to the strategies of electoral strategist Jack Wilson, who at the time was the youngest senior political adviser in British history. She kept the seat, increasing her majority in 2019.
Size of electorate
Voters locally are under-apportioned a large fraction of a seat, and so, representative – population having risen, and homes having increased in a planned way, since the 2001 United Kingdom Census from which seats are predominantly drawn. This can be illustrated in that 27,182 was the number of votes cast for the runner-up in 2019 amid a locally high, three-quarters, turnout election. Such voters for the runner-up were more than voted for the winner in 208 of the 535 English seats – and the second-highest such votes in the election, exceeded only in Stroud, by Labour's runner-up. In the same election 12,713 votes won Kingston upon Hull East; 14,557 votes won Stoke-on-Trent Central; 6,531 votes won Na h-Eileanan an Iar; 11,705 won Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross; 12,959 won Ynys Môn and 15,149 won South Antrim.
Boundariesedit
Map of current boundaries
1918–1950: The County Borough of Canterbury, the Urban Districts of Herne Bay and Whitstable, the Rural Districts of Bridge and Elham, and the Rural District of Blean with the detached parts of the parishes of Dunkirk and Hernhill which were wholly surrounded by the rural district.
1950–1983: The County Borough of Canterbury, the Urban Districts of Herne Bay and Whitstable, and the Rural District of Bridge Blean.
1983–1997: The City of Canterbury wards of Barham Downs, Barton, Blean Forest, Chartham, Chestfield, Gorrell, Harbledown, Harbour, Little Stour, Marshside, Northgate, North Nailbourne, St Stephen's, Seasalter, Stone Street, Sturry North, Sturry South, Swalecliffe, Tankerton, Westgate, and Wincheap, and the Borough of Swale wards of Boughton and Courtenay.
1997–2010: as 1983 less the two Borough of Swale wards.
2010–present: The City of Canterbury wards of Barham Downs, Barton, Blean Forest, Chartham and Stone Street, Chestfield and Swalecliffe, Gorrell, Harbledown, Harbour, Little Stour, North Nailbourne, Northgate, St Stephen's, Seasalter, Sturry North, Sturry South, Tankerton, Westgate, and Wincheap.
Proposed
edit
The City of Canterbury wards of: Barton; Blean Forest; Chartham & Stone Street; Chestfield; Gorrell; Little Stour & Adisham; Nailbourne; Northgate; St. Stephens; Seasalter; Swalecliffe; Tankerton; Westgate; Wincheap.[6]
The electorate will be reduced to bring it within the permitted range by transferring Sturry to the new seat of Herne Bay and Sandwich.
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;
Smythe retired before polling.[66] The election was declared void on petition, due to bribery, and the writ suspended on 21 February 1853.[67] A by-election was called to replace both MPs in August 1854.
By-election, 18 August 1854: Canterbury (2 seats)[57]
^A county constituency (for the purposes of election expenses and type of returning officer)
^As with all constituencies, the constituency elects one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first past the post system of election at least once every five years.
Referencesedit
^"Canterbury: Usual Resident Population, 2011". Neighbourhood Statistics. Office for National Statistics. Retrieved 16 February 2015.
^"2019 general election results – Canterbury". UK Parliament. Retrieved 19 December 2020.
^"Electorate Figures". 2011 Electorate Figures. Boundary Commission for England. 4 March 2011. Archived from the original on 6 November 2010. Retrieved 13 March 2011.
^ abcdLeigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "C" (part 2)
^ abcSir William Hardres was re-elected in 1734, but the result was overturned on petition and his seat awarded in 1735 to Sir Thomas Hales
^ abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyzStooks Smith, Henry. (1973) [1844-1850]. Craig, FWS (ed.). The Parliaments of England (2nd ed.). Chichester: Parliamentary Research Services. pp. 158–160. ISBN 0-900178-13-2.
^"GENERAL ELECTION CANDIDATES". SDP. Retrieved 13 February 2024.
^"Rosie Duffield confirmed as Labour's MP candidate for Canterbury and Whitstable after surviving trigger ballot". Kent Online. Retrieved 13 February 2024.
^"Canterbury Conservatives announce Parliamentary Candidate: Louise Harvey-Quirke". Conservative Party (UK). Retrieved 22 March 2024.
^"Canterbury Constituency". Reform UK. Retrieved 13 February 2024.
^"Canterbury Parliamentary constituency". BBC News. BBC. Retrieved 27 November 2019.
^"Candidates standing in Kent and Medway across Kent's 17 parliamentary constituencies". Kent Online. 12 May 2017.
^"Election Data 2015". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 17 October 2015. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
^"Canterbury and Whitstable parliamentary campaign launch". Canterbury District Green Party. 20 November 2014.
^"General Election - Campaign News - The Socialist Party of Great Britain". worldsocialism.org. Archived from the original on 20 January 2015. Retrieved 16 January 2015.
^"Election Data 2010". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 26 July 2013. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
^"UK Independence Party »". Candidates.ukip.org. Archived from the original on 15 April 2010. Retrieved 18 April 2010.
^"Canterbury". Politicsresources.net. Archived from the original on 3 June 2016. Retrieved 18 April 2010.
^"Politics Resources". Election 1992. Politics Resources. 9 April 1992. Archived from the original on 11 August 2011. Retrieved 6 December 2010.
^"UK General Election results: June 1987 [Archive]". Politicsresources.net. 11 June 1987. Archived from the original on 19 March 2012. Retrieved 18 April 2010.
^"UK General Election results: June 1983 [Archive]". Politicsresources.net. 9 June 1983. Archived from the original on 19 March 2012. Retrieved 18 April 2010.
^"UK General Election results: May 1979 [Archive]". Politicsresources.net. 28 May 1979. Archived from the original on 3 March 2016. Retrieved 18 April 2010.
^"UK General Election results: October 1974 [Archive]". Politicsresources.net. 10 October 1974. Archived from the original on 3 March 2016. Retrieved 18 April 2010.
^"UK General Election results: February 1974 [Archive]". Politicsresources.net. 28 February 1974. Archived from the original on 3 March 2016. Retrieved 18 April 2010.
^"UK General Election results 1970 [Archive]". Politicsresources.net. 18 June 1970. Archived from the original on 11 August 2011. Retrieved 18 April 2010.
^ abcdefghijklmnF W S Craig, British Parliamentary Election Results 1918–1949; Political Reference Publications, Glasgow 1949
^ abDebrett's House of Commons & Judicial Bench, 1916
^ abDebrett's House of Commons & Judicial Bench, 1901
^ abcdefghijklmnopqrsCraig, F. W. S., ed. (1977). British Parliamentary Election Results 1832-1885 (e-book) (1st ed.). London: Macmillan Press. ISBN 978-1-349-02349-3.
^ ab"The Canterbury Election Petition". Whitstable Times and Herne Bay Herald. 19 June 1880. pp. 2–4.