South West England (European Parliament constituency)

South West England
European Parliament constituency
Location among the 2014 constituencies
Shown in England, Gibraltar inset
Member state	United Kingdom
Electorate	3,998,479[1]
Created	1999
MEPs	7 (1999–2009) 6 (2009 – present)
Sources

South West England is a constituency of the European Parliament. From 2009 it elects 6 MEPs using the d'Hondt method of party-list proportional representation, reduced from 7 in 2009.

Boundaries

The constituency consists of the South West England region of the United Kingdom, comprising the ceremonial counties of Bristol, Cornwall, Devon, Dorset, Gloucestershire, Somerset and Wiltshire. It also includes the British overseas territory of Gibraltar since 2004.

History

The constituency was formed as a result of the European Parliamentary Elections Act 1999, replacing a number of single-member constituencies. These were Bristol, Cornwall and West Plymouth, Devon and East Plymouth, Dorset and East Devon, Somerset and North Devon, Wiltshire North and Bath, and parts of Cotswolds.

Before the 2004 election, it was expanded to include Gibraltar. This was the result of a 1999 European Court of Human Rights case, which argued that Gibraltar should be entitled to vote in European elections. Spain took a complaint about Gibraltar participating in European elections to the European Court of Justice, but their case was unsuccessful.^[2]

MEPs for former South West England constituencies, 1979 – 1999
Election		1979 – 1984		1984 – 1989		1989 – 1994		1994 – 1999
Bristol		Richard Cottrell Conservative				Ian White Labour
Cornwall and Plymouth (1979–1994) Cornwall and West Plymouth (1994–1999)		David Harris Conservative		Christopher Beazley Conservative				Robin Teverson Liberal Democrat
Cotswolds		Lord Plumb Conservative
Devon (1979–1994) Devon and East Plymouth (1994–1999)		Lord O'Hagan Conservative						Giles Chichester Conservative
Somerset (1979–1984) Somerset and Dorset West (1984–1994) Somerset and North Devon (1994–1999)		Frederick Warner Conservative		Margaret Daly Conservative				Graham Watson Liberal Democrat
Upper Thames (1979–1984) Wiltshire (1984–1994) Wiltshire North and Bath (1994–1999)		Robert Jackson Conservative		Caroline Jackson Conservative
Wessex (1979–1984) Dorset East and Hampshire West (1984–1994) Dorset and East Devon (1994–1999)		James Spicer Conservative		Bryan Cassidy Conservative

Returned members

MEPs for South West England, 1999 onwards
Election		1999 (5th parliament)				2004 (6th parliament)				2009 (7th parliament)		2014 (8th parliament)
MEP Party		Caroline Jackson Conservative								Ashley Fox Conservative
MEP Party		Neil Parish Conservative								Julie Girling Conservative
MEP Party		Giles Chichester Conservative										Molly Scott Cato Green
MEP Party		Earl of Stockton Conservative				Roger Knapman UKIP				William Dartmouth UKIP
MEP Party		Michael Holmes[3] UKIP (1999–2000) Independent (2000–02)		Graham Booth[4] UKIP				Trevor Colman[5] UKIP				Julia Reid UKIP
MEP Party		Graham Watson Liberal Democrat										Clare Moody Labour
MEP Party		Glyn Ford Labour							Seat abolished

Election results

See also: European Parliament election, 2004 and European Parliament election, 2009

Elected candidates are shown in bold. Brackets indicate the number of votes per seat won.

European Election 2014: South West England[6]
List		Candidates	Votes	%	±
	UKIP	William Dartmouth, Julia Reid, Gawain Towler, Tony McIntyre, Robert Smith, Keith Crawford	484,184 (242,092)	32.29	+10.2
	Conservative	Ashley Fox, Julie Girling, James Cracknell, Georgina Butler, Sophie Swire, Melisa Maynard	433,151 (216,575.5)	28.9	−1.36
	Labour	Clare Moody, Glyn Ford, Ann Reeder, Hadleigh Roberts, Jude Robinson, Junab Ali	206,124	13.75	+6.1
	Green	Molly Scott Cato, Emily McIvor, Ricky Knight, Audaye Elesedy, Judy Maciejowska, Mark Chivers	166,447	11.1	+1.8
	Liberal Democrat	Graham Watson, Kay Barnard, Brian Matthew, Andrew Wigley, Jay Risbridger, Lyana Armstrong-Emery[7]	160,376	10.7	−6.5
	An Independence from Europe	David Smith, Helen Webster, Mike Camp, Andrew Edwards, Phil Dunn, John Taverner	23,169	1.6	N/A
	English Democrat	Alan England, Mike Blundell, Clive Lavelle, Barbara Wright, Stephen Wright, Raymond Carr	15,081	1.0	−0.6
	BNP	Adrian Rommilly, Cliff Jones, Arnold Brindle, Wayne Tomlinson, Andrew Webster, Giuseppe De Santis	10,910	0.7	−3.2
Turnout			1,503,174	37.0	−1.8

European election 2009: South West England[1]
List		Candidates	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	Giles Chichester, Julie Girling, Ashley Fox Mike Dolley, Don Collier, Zehra Zaidi	468,742 (156,247.3)	30.2	−1.3
	UKIP	Trevor Colman, William Dartmouth Gawain Towler, Julia Reid, Alan Wood, Stephanie McWilliam	341,845 (170,922.5)	22.1	−0.5
	Liberal Democrat	Graham Watson Kay Barnard, Justine McGuinness, Humphrey Temperley, Paul Massey, Jonathan Stagnetto	266,253	17.2	−1.2
	Green	Ricky Knight, Roger Creagh-Osborne, Molly Scott Cato, Richard Lawson, Chloë Somers, David Taylor	144,179	9.3	+2.1
	Labour	Glyn Ford, Isabel Owen, Keir Dhillon, Dorothea Hodge, Dafydd Emlyn Williams, Eshter Pickup-Keller	118,716	7.7	−6.8
	BNP	Jeremy Wotherspoon, Barry Bennett, Adrian Rommilly, Sean Twitchin, Lawrence West, Peryn Parsons	60,889	3.9	+0.9
	Pensioners	Jonathan McQueen, Barry Hodgson, Derek Wharton, Roger Edwards, Stuart Baker, Barry Egerton	37,785	2.4	N/A
	English Democrat	Michael Turner, Sara Box, Keith Riley, Stephen Wright, Raymond Carr, Lee Pickering	25,313	1.6	N/A
	Christian	William Capstick, Katherine Mills, Diane Ofori, Larna Martin, Peter Vickers, Adenike Williams	21,329	1.4	N/A
	Mebyon Kernow	Dick Cole, Conan Jenkin, Loveday Jenkin, Simon Reed, Glenn Renshaw, Joanie Willett	14,922	1.0	N/A
	Socialist Labour	Robert Hawkins, Brian Corbett, Alison Entwistle, David Marchesi, Robert Hawkins, James Bannister	10,033	0.6	N/A
	NO2EU	Alex Gordon, Roger Davey, Rachel Lynch, Nick Quirk, John Chambers, Paul Dyer	9,741	0.6	N/A
	Independent	Katie Hopkins	8,971	0.6	N/A
	Libertas	Robin Matthews, Peter Morgan-Barnes, Chloe Gwynne, Christopher Charnock, Nicholas Carlton, Nicholas Charlee	7,292	0.5	N/A
	Fair Pay Fair Trade	David Michael, Judy Foster	7,151	0.5	N/A
	Jury Team	Sally Smith, Martin Paley, Michael Clayton, Brian Underwood, Roger Whitfield, William Barnett	5,758	0.4	N/A
	Wai D Your Decision	Nicola Guagliardo, Joy Margareth Skey	789	0.1	N/A
Turnout			1,549,708	38.8	+1.2

European election 2004: South West England[8]
List		Candidates	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	Neil Parish, Caroline Jackson, Giles Chichester Richard Graham, Earl of Stockton, Jack Lopresti, Julie Girling	457,371 (152,457)	31.6	−10.1
	UKIP	Graham Booth, Roger Knapman Trevor Colman, Elizabeth Burton, Matthew Jackson, Michael Faulkner, Andrew Reed	326,784 (163,392)	22.6	+12.0
	Liberal Democrat	Graham Watson Anthony Welch, Kay Barnard, Simon Green, Christine Coleman, Katie Hall, Alistair Cameron	265,619	18.3	+1.8
	Labour	Glyn Ford Bernadette Hartley, Ian White, Clare Moody, Keir Dhillon, Julie Watts, David Roberts	209,908	14.5	−3.5
	Green	David Taylor, Emily McIvor, Carol Kambites, Anthony Bown, Lyana Armstrong-Emery,[9][10] Katharine Chant, Paul Edwards	103,821	7.2	−1.1
	BNP	Anthony North, Michaela Mackenzie, Barry Bennett, Edward Mullins, Robert Baggs, Bruce Cowd, Frederick Paynter[11]	43,653	3.0	+2.1
	Countryside Party	Chris Thomas-Everard, Brian Crawford, Diana Scott, Ranulph Fiennes, Archibald Montgomery, John Yewdall	30,824	2.1	N/A
	Respect	Paulette North, Sami Velioglu, Hannah Packham, Ann Thomas, John Bampfylde, Bernard Parkes, Anthony Staunton	10,437	0.7	N/A
Turnout			1,448,417	37.6	+10.0

European election 1999: South West England[12]
List		Candidates	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	Caroline Jackson, Giles Chichester, Earl of Stockton, Neil Parish David Martin, Bryan Cassidy, Paul Marland	434,645 (108,661.25)	41.7	N/A
	Labour	Glyn Ford Ian White, Sue Mallory, James Knight, Marion Dewar, John Shepherd, Elizabeth Lisgo	188,362	18.1	N/A
	Liberal Democrat	Graham Watson Robin Teverson, Terrye Jones, Paula Yates, Alan Butt-Philip, Janice Beasley, Simon Green	171,498	16.5	N/A
	UKIP	Michael Holmes Graham Booth, Michael Faulkner, Malcolm Wood, Ronald Dickinson, Robert Edwards, George Eustice	111,012	10.6	N/A
	Green	David Taylor, Richard Lawson, Simon Pickering, Susan Proud, Hamish Soutar, Carol Kambites, Justin Quinnell	86,630	8.3	N/A
	Liberal	Paul Holmes, David Morrish, Lomond Handley, Frederick Stephens, Geoffrey Halliwell, Jean Pollock, Roy Collins	21,645	2.1	N/A
	Pro-Euro Conservative	Julian Ayer, Kenneth Daly, David McCrum, Denise Atkinson, Vilma Aris, Philip Taylor, Derek Palmer	11,134	1.1	N/A
	BNP	Bruce Cowd,[13] Donald Stevens, Stephen Parnell, Terence Cavill,[14] Barbara Packer, Peter Hart, George Jeffrey	9,752	0.9	N/A
	Socialist Labour	David White, Jean Ramshaw, Robert Hawkins, Paul Williams, Giles Shorter, Bernard Kennedy, Brian Corbett	5,741	0.6	N/A
	Natural Law	Mark Griffiths, Francis Lyons, Nicholas Cresswell, Margot Hartley, Thomas Dyball, Lynn Royse, Henry Brighouse	1,968	0.2	N/A
Turnout			1,042,387	27.6	N/A

Campaign for a dedicated Euro-constituency and MEP for Cornwall

In campaigning for a dedicated Cornish seat, the leader of the Cornish nationalist party Mebyon Kernow, Dick Cole, said in May 2009, "This European election represents a huge democratic deficit for the people of Cornwall. Our distinct needs are ignored in the massive South West constituency and we have been poorly served by MEPs not resident in Cornwall. We consider it a nonsense that the European parliamentary constituency stretches from the Isles of Scilly to Bristol via Gibraltar. We hope voters will support our campaign for proper Cornish representation in Europe including a European Parliamentary constituency for Cornwall."^[15] Until 1994 Cornwall was represented by the much smaller Cornwall and Plymouth constituency.

References

1. "European Election 2009: South West". BBC News Online. 8 June 2009. Retrieved 8 June 2009.
2. Spain loses case over Gibraltar elections
3. Resigned in 2002
4. Appointed in 2002 to replace Michael Holmes, retired on 1 October 2008.
5. Appointed in 2008 to replace Graham Booth.
6. Morris, Paul (22 April 2014). "Statement of Persons Nominated". Poole Borough Council. Retrieved 3 May 2014.
7. Representing the Liberal Party of Gibraltar
8. "2004 Election candidates". UK Office of the European Parliament. Retrieved 4 June 2009.
9. Representing the Gibraltar Reform Party
10. http://greenparty.org.uk/people/146.html
11. swcand
12. "Euros 99 – South West". BBC News. Retrieved 30 June 2015.
13. "BBC News – Programmes – Under the skin of the BNP". BBC News.
14. "BBC News – Programmes – Under the skin of the BNP". BBC News.
15. Mebyon Kernow campaigns for Cornwall only MEP