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Taunton Deane
Former county constituency for the House of Commons
Boundary of Taunton Deane in Somerset
Location of Somerset within England
County	Somerset
Electorate	82,882 (December 2010)
Major settlements	Taunton, Wellington
2010–2024
Seats	One
Created from	Taunton
Replaced by	Taunton and Wellington & Tiverton and Minehead

Taunton Deane was a constituency in Somerset represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament.

Further to the completion of the 2023 Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies, the seat was abolished. Subject to moderate boundary changes, it was reformed as Taunton and Wellington, which was first contested at the 2024 general election.

History

Parliament accepted the Boundary Commission's Fifth Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies which created this constituency for the General Election 2010 as a reduced form of the Taunton seat. The western wards, transferred to the new seat of Bridgwater and West Somerset for 2010, were all close to or in Exmoor, which were five in number:

• Aville Vale, Brompton Ralph and Haddon, Dulverton and Brushford, Exmoor and, Qualme.

Political history

The predecessor seat, while approximately 7% larger in electorate (and thus due to population and settlements' growth, oversized), had been held by a Liberal Democrat, Jeremy Browne, since 2005, who won Taunton Deane as its main successor with a relatively marginal majority. In the two previous elections, the seat had seen alternation between Conservative and a Liberal Democrat control. The Taunton Deane seat was won by the Conservatives in the 2015 general election with a large majority.

The last general election in which either party polled less than 38% of the vote, thus allowing a larger majority, was in 1987, taking into account only one of their notionally equivalent predecessors, the Social Democratic Party – their candidate participated in the SDP–Liberal Alliance.

Prominent members

Between 2010 and 2015, the seat was represented by Jeremy Browne, who served in the Coalition government as a Minister of State in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and the Home Office.

Boundaries

The seat has electoral wards:

• Bishop's Hull, Bishops Lydeard, Blackdown, Bradford on Tone, Comeytrowe, Milverton and North Deane, Monument, Neroche, North Curry, Norton Fitzwarren, Ruishton and Creech, Staplegrove, Stoke St Gregory, Taunton: Blackbrook and Holway, Eastgate, Fairwater, Halcon, Killams and Mountfield, Lyngford, Manor and Wilton, Pyrland and Rowbarton wards, Trull, Wellington: East, North, Rockwell Green and West wards, West Monkton, Wiveliscombe and West Deane forming the Borough of Taunton Deane

This constituency centred on the town of Taunton while extending to include Wellington within an approximate rhombus-shaped swathe of land forming the south-western portion of Somerset. The constituency covered a large part of the Devon—Somerset border.

History

In the 2005 general election, the victorious Liberal Democrats' candidate in Taunton required the smallest percentage swing from the Conservative MP for them to take the seat. In the 2010 general election, the seat was identified as a target for the Conservative Party, ranking 29th on their target list. The incumbent, Jeremy Browne had a notional 3.3% lead from the 2005 election. Browne held the seat in 2010, increasing his majority to 6.9%, a 1.8% swing from the Conservatives to the Liberal Democrats.

Constituency profile

The seat was a mixture of partially agricultural commuter villages and a spacious urban town, which has business parks in a similar way to Wells, connected by road and rail to the major conurbations, north and south, Bristol and Exeter. The majority of the eastern half of the ridge-like Blackdown Hills is in the Blackdown electoral ward. Workless claimants, registered jobseekers, were in November 2012 lower than the national average of 3.8%, at 2.6% of the population based on a statistical compilation by The Guardian.

Members of Parliament

2010–2024

Elections

Elections in the 2010s

See also

• List of parliamentary constituencies in Somerset

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.

References

1. "Electorate Figures - Boundary Commission for England". 2011 Electorate Figures. Boundary Commission for England. 4 March 2011. Archived from the original on 6 November 2010. Retrieved 13 March 2011.
2. "South West | Boundary Commission for England". boundarycommissionforengland.independent.gov.uk. Retrieved 20 June 2023.
3. ^ 2010 post-revision map non-metropolitan areas and unitary authorities of England
4. "Lib Dem MP Browne to stand down". BBC News. 15 October 2014.
5. "New Parliamentary Constituencies for England SN/PC/04297" (PDF). House of Commons Library. 5 November 2009. Retrieved 11 November 2010.
6. "Election 2010: Conservative target seats". BBC News. 7 May 2010. Retrieved 7 May 2010.
7. "Election 2010: UK, England, South West, Taunton Deane". BBC News. 7 May 2010. Retrieved 7 May 2010.
8. Unemployment claimants by constituency The Guardian
9. "Taunton Deane". Guardian. Retrieved 17 September 2012.
10. "Statement of Persons Nominated" (PDF).
11. BBC Election Results 2019 GE https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/politics/constituencies/E14000988
12. "General Election 2017: these are the Taunton Deane candidates". somersetlive.co.uk. 12 May 2017. Retrieved 13 May 2017.
13. "Taunton Deane". BBC. Retrieved 9 June 2017.
14. "Election Data 2015". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 17 October 2015. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
15. "Taunton Deane Parliamentary constituency". BBC News. Retrieved 8 May 2015.
16. James, P (20 April 2010). "Statement of Persons Nominated & Notice of Poll" (PDF). Acting Returning Officer, Taunton Deane Borough Council. Retrieved 24 April 2010.

Sources

• UK Constituency Maps
• BBC Vote 2001
• BBC Election 2005

External links

• Taunton Deane UK Parliament constituency (boundaries April 2010 – May 2024) at MapIt UK

51°00′00″N 3°10′12″W / 51.0000°N 3.1700°W / 51.0000; -3.1700

• Parliamentary constituencies in Somerset (historic)
• Constituencies of the Parliament of the United Kingdom established in 2010
• Constituencies of the Parliament of the United Kingdom disestablished in 2024
• Taunton Deane
• Taunton