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Maidstone and The Weald is a county constituency which elects one Member of Parliament (MP) in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom.
Boundaries
It is located in the west of the county of Kent in south eastern England and includes parts of the areas of Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells boroughs. Towns include Maidstone and Cranbrook and Tenterden.
Boundary review
Following their review of parliamentary representation in Kent, the Boundary Commission for England has made major changes to the existing constituency boundaries as a consequence of population changes across the county. The modified Maidstone and The Weald constituency is formed from the following electoral wards:
- Allington, Barming, Bridge, Coxheath, Hunton and Linton, East, Fant, Heath, High Street, Loose, Marden and Yalding, North, South and Staplehurst from the borough of Maidstone.
- Benenden and Cranbrook, and Frittenden and Sissinghurst from Tunbridge Wells.
History
The constituency was created for the 1997 general election, partially replacing the earlier Maidstone constituency.
The Maidstone town wards which had been in Mid Kent since 1983 rejoined the Maidstone seat, and a rural part of the Weald to the south of the town, previously in the Tunbridge Wells constituency was also included; but about a third of the electorate in the Maidstone constituency was transferred to the Faversham and Mid Kent constituency - this included the rural wards to the east of the town, but also the Shepway and Park Wood areas of Maidstone proper.
The constituency is still rural (hop-growing being a significant activity), although there is a degree of light engineering too and many residents commute to London.
Members of Parliament
The MP for the seat since its creation in 1997 has been Ann Widdecombe of the Conservative Party. She was previously MP for the former seat of Maidstone from 1987, and served as a Home Office minister in the government of John Major from 1995 to 1997, and as Shadow Home Secretary from 1999 to 2001. She has announced that she will not contest the next general election.
Elections
Notes
References
- Robert Beatson, "A Chronological Register of Both Houses of Parliament" (London: Longman, Hurst, Res & Orme, 1807) [1]
- D Brunton & D H Pennington, Members of the Long Parliament (London: George Allen & Unwin, 1954)
- F W S Craig, "British Parliamentary Election Results 1832-1885" (2nd edition, Aldershot: Parliamentary Research Services, 1989)
- T H B Oldfield, The Representative History of Great Britain and Ireland (London: Baldwin, Cradock & Joy, 1816)
- J Holladay Philbin, Parliamentary Representation 1832 - England and Wales (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1965)
- Edward Porritt and Annie G Porritt, The Unreformed House of Commons (Cambridge University Press, 1903)
- Lewis Namier, The Structure of Politics at the Accession of George III (2nd edition - London: St Martin's Press, 1961)
- Henry Pelling, Social Geography of British Elections 1885-1910 (London: Macmillan, 1967)
- Robert Waller, The Almanac of British Politics (1st edition, London: Croom Helm, 1983; 5th edition, London: Routledge, 1996)
- Frederic A Youngs, jr, "Guide to the Local Administrative Units of England, Vol I" (London: Royal Historical Society, 1979)
See also
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