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UK Parliament - Portsmouth North

RACE DETAILS

Parents

> United Kingdom > England > South East > South East > Portsmouth North

Office

Parliament

Type

General Election

Filing Deadline

April 20, 2010 - 06:00pm

Polls Open

May 06, 2010 - 01:00am

Polls Close

May 06, 2010 - 04:00pm

Term Start

May 17, 2010 - 12:00pm

Term End

May 17, 2015 - 12:00pm

Contributor

Ralphie

Last Modified

Imperator May 14, 2010 07:17pm

Data Sources

[Link]

Description

BBC Profile:
In the 1970s this was one of only two Labour seats on the whole of the South Coast, but it was won by the Conservative Peter Griffiths in 1979. In 1997 Syd Rapson, a prominent local Labour councillor and former Lord Mayor, won the seat for Labour with a majority of 4,323. Mr Rapson held the seat in 2001 with an increased majority.

Rapson retired before the 2005 election. He was replaced by Sarah McCarthy-Fry, a local politician who retained the seat with a reduced majority of 1,139. She is sitting as a Labour Co-operative member.

At this election, there have been minimal boundary changes, consisting of small area swaps between the two Portsmouth seats. To find out what might have happened had this boundary change been in force at the last election, see a notional - or estimated - result below.

Portsmouth is a prosperous and densely-packed city. This largely working-class seat takes in the outlying estates and suburbs on the mainland as well as the northern part of Portsea Island, with the ferry terminal.

The modern naval dockyard located outside the constituency is a major employer, with large numbers of people also working in private-sector defence industries such as Lockheed Martin, Marconi-GEC, VT Group (Vosper Thorneycroft) and BAE Systems.

The expanding and highly successful council-owned continental ferry port, also just outside the constituency, employs around 2,000 people directly, and is responsible for a significant number of jobs through suppliers and servicing industries.

The latest economic developments around the Harbour in Portsmouth South have benefited residents in the north of the city too.

Rallings & Thrasher Notional:
Lab 15,858 (38.52%)
C 15,543 (37.75%)
LD 8,361 (20.31%)
UKIP 1,407 (3.42%)