Wyre Forest (UK Parliament constituency)

Wyre Forest
County constituency for the House of Commons
Boundary of Wyre Forest in Worcestershire.
Location of Worcestershire within England.
County	Worcestershire
Electorate	77,800 (December 2010)
Major settlements	Bewdley Kidderminster Stourport-on-Severn
Current constituency
Created	1983
Member of parliament	Mark Garnier (Conservative)
Number of members	One
Created from	Kidderminster
Overlaps
European Parliament constituency	West Midlands

Wyre Forest is a county constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elects one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first past the post system of election. The current MP is Mark Garnier of the Conservative Party who was elected at the 2010 general election.

Boundaries

The Wyre Forest constituency as it was drawn for the 1997 election was almost coterminous with the Wyre Forest district, with around 2,000 electors from the district in the neighbouring Leominster constituency. Following its review of parliamentary constituencies for the 2010 election, the Boundary Commission recommended that the portions of the district currently in Leominster move into this seat, making the constituency and district wholly coterminous. These changes were brought about in part by the consideration of Worcestershire and Herefordshire separately for the drawing of parliamentary constituency boundaries.

History

The Wyre Forest constituency was first fought under its present name in the 1983 general election, having succeeded the old Kidderminster seat, and was won for the Conservatives by Esmond Bulmer. Wyre Forest was held with relative ease by the Conservatives' Anthony Coombs in the 1987 and 1992 general elections; however the 1997 Labour landslide saw that party gain the seat with David Lock securing a majority of almost 7,000. Anger over the downgrading of Kidderminster Hospital reflected on Lock at the 2001 election, and Health Concern's Richard Taylor stormed to a decisive victory, then held the seat with a considerably reduced majority in 2005. Taylor lost to the Conservatives in the 2010 general election.

Turnout in the Wyre Forest at general elections has generally been around 2-3% above the national average, but in 2001 the constituency recorded a 68.0% turnout as against 59.4% nationally; this spike (not repeated in 2005) is widely attributed to the intense local feelings on the hospital issue.

Members of Parliament

• Constituency created (1983), replacing Kidderminster

Election		Member	Party
	1983	Esmond Bulmer	Conservative
	1987	Anthony Coombs	Conservative
	1997	David Lock	Labour
	2001	Richard Taylor	Health Concern
	2010	Mark Garnier	Conservative

Elections

Elections in the 2010s

See also: Opinion polling in United Kingdom constituencies, 2010–15 § Wyre Forest

General Election 2015: Wyre Forest

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Mark Garnier	22,394	45.3	+8.4
	Labour	Matt Lamb	9,523	19.3	+4.9
	UKIP	Michael Wrench	7,967	16.1	+13.2
	National Health Action	Richard Taylor	7,221	14.6	-17.1
	Liberal Democrat	Andy Crick	1,228	2.5	-9.4
	Green	Natalie McVey	1,117	2.3	+2.3
Majority			12,871	26.0
Turnout			49,440	63.8	-3.0

General Election 2010: Wyre Forest

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Mark Garnier	18,793	36.9	+7.8
	Health Concern	Richard Taylor	16,150	31.7	−6.9
	Labour	Nigel Knowles	7,298	14.3	−8.2
	Liberal Democrat	Neville Farmer	6,040	11.9	N/A
	UKIP	Michael Wrench	1,498	2.9	+0.6
	BNP	Gordon Howells	1,120	2.2	N/A
Majority			2,643	5.2
Turnout			50,899	66.8	+2.9
	Conservative gain from Health Concern		Swing

Elections in the 2000s

General Election 2005: Wyre Forest

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Health Concern	Richard Taylor	18,739	39.9	−18.2
	Conservative	Mark Garnier	13,489	28.7	+9.6
	Labour	Marc Bayliss	10,716	22.8	+0.7
	Liberal	Frances Oborski	2,666	5.7	N/A
	UKIP	Rustie Lee	1,074	2.3	+1.5
	Monster Raving Loony	Bert Priest	303	0.6	N/A
Majority			5,250	11.2
Turnout			46,987	64.2	−3.8
	Health Concern hold		Swing	−13.9

General Election 2001: Wyre Forest

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Health Concern	Richard Taylor	28,487	58.1	N/A
	Labour	David Lock	10,857	22.1	−26.7
	Conservative	Mark Simpson	9,350	19.1	−17.1
	UKIP	Jim Millington	368	0.8	+0.2
Majority			17,630	36.0
Turnout			49,062	68.0	−7.3
	Health Concern gain from Labour		Swing

Elections in the 1990s

General Election 1997: Wyre Forest

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	David Lock	26,843	48.8
	Conservative	Anthony Coombs	19,897	36.1
	Liberal Democrat	David Cropp	4,377	8.0
	Referendum	William Till	1,956	3.6
	Liberal	C. Harvey	1,670	3.0
	UKIP	Jim Millington	312	0.6
Majority			6,946
Turnout				75.4
	Labour gain from Conservative		Swing

General Election 1992: Wyre Forest

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Anthony Coombs	28,983	47.8	+0.7
	Labour	Ross Maden	18,642	30.8	+11.9
	Liberal Democrat	Mark D. Jones	12,958	21.4	−12.6
Majority			10,341	17.1	+3.9
Turnout			60,583	82.3	+4.8
	Conservative hold		Swing	−5.6

Elections in the 1980s

General Election 1987: Wyre Forest

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Anthony Coombs	25,877	47.14
	Liberal	AJ Batchelor	18,653	33.98
	Labour	N Knowles	10,365	18.88
Majority			7,224	13.16
Turnout				77.55
	Conservative hold		Swing

General Election 1983: Wyre Forest

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Esmond Bulmer	24,809	48.37
	Liberal	AJ Batchelor	16,632	32.43
	Labour	RB Williams	9,850	19.20
Majority			8,177	15.94
Turnout				75.10
	Conservative hold		Swing

See also

• List of Parliamentary constituencies in Herefordshire and Worcestershire