Banbury_(UK_Parliament_constituency)

Banbury (UK Parliament constituency)

Parliamentary constituency in the United Kingdom, 1801 onwards

Banbury is a constituency in Oxfordshire^{[n 1]} created in 1553 and represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2015 by Victoria Prentis of the Conservative Party. She currently serves as Attorney General for England and Wales.^{[n 2]}

Quick Facts County, Population ...

Banbury
County constituency for the House of Commons
Boundary of Banbury in Oxfordshire
Location of Oxfordshire within England
County	Oxfordshire
Population	117,928 (2011 census)^[1]
Electorate	90,113 (December 2019)^[2]
Major settlements	Banbury and Bicester
Current constituency
Created	1553
Member of Parliament	Victoria Prentis (Conservative)
Seats	One

In terms of electorate, Banbury was the 16th largest constituency in the United Kingdom at the time of the 2015 general election.^[3]

Constituency profile

The constituency has relatively high economic dependence on agriculture, as well as modern industry (particularly motorsport), research and development, public services and, to a lesser extent, defence. It contains two large market towns, Banbury and Bicester, where the majority of the electorate live. It is a partly rural seat, with the northwest of the constituency on the edge of the Cotswolds. The area has experienced significant urban growth and is popular with commuters who favour its fast transport links to Birmingham, Oxford and London by rail, or the M40. More than one in 10 of the population is employed in higher managerial, administrative and professional work, according to ONS 2011 Census figures for England and Wales. In 2015 the seat was home to 4.3% of EU residents and unemployment was 2.9%.^[4] There are some Labour voting wards in Banbury itself, but the remainder of the constituency including Bicester and the smaller rural towns and villages are safely Conservative. However, the 2017 election saw a particularly strong swing for Labour like many towns in southern England. Nonetheless, the Conservative incumbent Victoria Prentis managed to secure a majority of over 12,000, increasing this to nearly 17,000 in 2019.

History

The constituency was created as a parliamentary borough, consisting of the town of Banbury, on 26 January 1554 through the efforts of Henry Stafford and Thomas Denton.^[5] It was one of the few in England in the unreformed House of Commons to elect only one Member of Parliament (MP) to the House of Commons of England until 1707, then to the House of Commons of Great Britain from 1707 to 1800, and finally to the House of Commons of the United Kingdom from 1801 onwards. As such, it used the first past the post system.

It was the seat represented by Lord North, the prime minister during the American War of Independence.

Under the Redistribution of Seats Act 1885, the Parliamentary Borough was abolished and was reconstituted as the Northern or Banbury Division of Oxfordshire when the three-member Parliamentary County of Oxfordshire was divided into the three single-member seats: Banbury, Woodstock and Henley. It comprised the north-western part of Oxfordshire, including Chipping Norton as well as the abolished borough. Banbury has remained as such since then with varying boundaries (see below).

Political history

Majority views

Banbury has post-World War I unbroken Conservative representation and significant local support for the party. Its MPs since 1922 have all served long terms in office and each since 1922 has been knighted. The seat saw a very close election in 1923. The largest vote since 1922 has at each election been for a Conservative. In 2010 Tony Baldry (Conservative) almost doubled his majority. The 2015 result made the seat the 125th safest of the Conservative Party's 331 seats by percentage of majority.^[6]

In June 2016, an estimated 50.35% of local adults voting in the EU membership referendum chose to leave the European Union instead of to remain. This was matched in two January 2018 votes in Parliament by its MP.^[7]

Other parties

Four of the six parties' candidates achieved more than the deposit-retaining threshold of 5% of the vote in 2015. In 2001, the Labour Party candidate Lesley Silbey won the largest opposing-party share of the vote since 1974 — 35% of the vote. Prior to 1974, the highest percentage of votes for the second-placed candidate was in 1945 — 48% of the vote.

Boundaries and boundary changes

1885–1918

The Borough of Banbury;and
The Sessional Divisions of Banbury and Bloxham, Chadlington, and Wootton North.^[8]

1918–1950

The Boroughs of Banbury, Chipping Norton, and Woodstock;
The Urban District of Witney; and
The Rural Districts of Banbury, Chipping Norton, Witney, and Woodstock.^[9]

The constituency was expanded to include the western half of the abolished Woodstock Division, including Witney and Woodstock.

1950–1974

The Boroughs of Banbury, Chipping Norton, and Woodstock;
The Urban District of Witney;
The Rural Districts of Banbury, Chipping Norton, and Witney; and
The Rural District of Ploughley parishes of Begbroke, Gosford and Water Eaton, Hampton Gay and Poyle, Kidlington, Shipton on Cherwell, Thrupp, and Yarnton.^[10]

Change to contents due to reorganisation of rural districts. Marginal loss to the Oxford constituency as a result of the expansion of the County Borough of Oxford.

1974–1983

The Boroughs of Banbury, Chipping Norton, and Woodstock;
The Urban District of Bicester;
The Rural Districts of Banbury and Chipping Norton; and
The Rural District of Ploughley parishes of Ardley, Bucknell, Caversfield, Chesterton, Cottisford, Finmere, Fringford, Fritwell, Godington, Hardwick with Tusmore, Hethe, Kirtlington, Launton, Lower Heyford, Middleton Stoney, Mixbury, Newton Purcell with Shelswell, Somerton, Souldern, Stoke Lyne, Stratton Audley, and Upper Heyford.^[11]

The Urban and Rural Districts of Witney and the parts of the Rural District of Ploughley, including Kidlington, formed the basis of the new constituency of Mid-Oxon. Bicester and northern parts of the Rural District of Ploughley transferred from Henley.

1983–1997

The District of Cherwell wards of Adderbury, Ambrosden, Ardley, Bicester East, Bicester South, Bicester West, Bloxham, Bodicote, Calthorpe, Chesterton, Cropredy, Deddington, Easington, Fringford, Grimsbury, Hardwick, Heyford, Hook Norton, Hornton, Kirtlington, Launton, Neithrop, Otmoor, Ruscote, Sibford, Steeple Aston, and Wroxton; and
The District of West Oxfordshire wards of Bartons and Tackley, and Wootton.^[12]

Gained a small part of the abolished constituency of Mid-Oxon, to the south of Bicester. The bulk of the area comprising the former Urban and Rural Districts of Chipping Norton transferred to the new constituency of Witney.

1997–2010

The District of Cherwell wards of Adderbury, Ambrosden, Ardley, Bicester East, Bicester South, Bicester West, Bloxham, Bodicote, Calthorpe, Chesterton, Cropredy, Deddington, Easington, Fringford, Grimsbury, Hardwick, Heyford, Hook Norton, Hornton, Kirtlington, Launton, Neithrop, Otmoor, Ruscote, Sibford, Steeple Aston, and Wroxton.^[13]

Minor loss to Witney, comprising the two wards in the District of West Oxfordshire.

2010–present

Map of present boundaries

The District of Cherwell wards of Adderbury, Ambrosden and Chesterton, Banbury Calthorpe, Banbury Easington, Banbury Grimsbury and Castle, Banbury Hardwick, Banbury Neithrop, Banbury Ruscote, Bicester East, Bicester North, Bicester South, Bicester Town, Bicester West, Bloxham and Bodicote, Caversfield, Cropredy, Deddington, Fringford, Hook Norton, Launton, Sibford, The Astons and Heyfords, and Wroxton.^[14]

Two wards in the District of Cherwell to the south of Bicester (Kirtlington and Otmoor) transferred to Henley.

The constituency currently covers the north-east of Oxfordshire, around Banbury and Bicester and largely corresponds to the Cherwell local government district, with the principal exception of the large village of Kidlington on the outskirts of Oxford which lies in the Oxford West and Abingdon constituency, and some smaller villages to the north-east of Oxford that lie in the Henley constituency.

Proposed

Further to the 2023 Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies, enacted by the Parliamentary Constituencies Order 2023, from the next general election, due by January 2025, the constituency will be composed of the following (as they existed on 1 December 2020):

The District of Cherwell wards of: Adderbury, Bloxham & Bodicote; Banbury, Calthorpe & Easington; Banbury Cross & Neithrop; Banbury Grimsbury & Hightown; Banbury Hardwick; Banbury Ruscote; Cropredy, Sibfords & Wroxton; Deddington.
The District of West Oxfordshire wards of: Chadlington and Churchill; Charlbury and Finstock; Chipping Norton; Kingham, Rollright and Enstone; The Bartons.^[15]

Major changes, with the town of Bicester and surrounding areas, comprising 38.5% of the current electorate^[16], being included in the newly created constituency of Bicester and Woodstock. This will be partly offset by the transfer from Witney of north-western parts of the District of West Oxfordshire, including Chipping Norton and Charlbury.

Members of Parliament

Banbury borough (until 1885)

MPs 1554–1640

Constituency created 1554. (Even before the Reform Act of 1832, Banbury only returned one member to Parliament)^[17]

More information Parliament, Member ...

Parliament	Member
Parliament of 1554 (April)	Thomas Denton
Parliament of 1554 (November)	Edward Stafford, 3rd Baron Stafford
Parliament of 1555	Not known
Parliament of 1558	John Denton
Parliament of 1559	Thomas Lee
Parliament of 1563	Francis Walsingham (sat for Lyme Regis, replaced by Owen Brereton)
Parliament of 1571	Anthony Cope
Parliament of 1572	Anthony Cope
Parliament of 1584	Richard Fiennes
Parliament of 1586	Anthony Cope
Parliament of 1588
Parliament of 1593
Parliament of 1597
Parliament of 1601
Parliament of 1604–1611	Sir William Cope^[18]
Addled Parliament (1614)
Parliament of 1621–1622
Happy Parliament (1624–1625)	Sir Erasmus Dryden
Useless Parliament (1625)	Sir William Cope (Election declared void, replaced by James Fiennes)
Parliament of 1626	Calcot Chambre
Parliament of 1628–1629	John Crew
No Parliament summoned 1629–1640

This list is incomplete; you can help by adding missing items. (August 2008)

MPs 1640–1885

More information Year, Member ...

Year		Member^[19]	Party
	April 1640	Nathaniel Fiennes	Parliamentarian
	1648	Fiennes excluded in Pride's Purge – seat left vacant
	1653	Banbury was unrepresented in the Barebones Parliament and the First and Second Parliaments of the Protectorate
	January 1659	Nathaniel Fiennes, the younger
	May 1659	Banbury was not represented in the restored Rump
	April 1660	Sir Anthony Cope
	1661	Sir John Holman^[20]
	1685	Sir Dudley North
	1689	Sir Robert Dashwood
	1698	James Isaacson^[21]
	1699	Sir John Cope	Whig
	1700	Patrick Friel^{[citation needed]}
	1701	Charles North
	1713	Sir Jonathan Cope	Tory
	1722	Monoux Cope
	1727	Hon. Francis North	Whig
	1730	Toby Chauncy
	1733	William Knollys^[22]
	1740	William Moore
	1746	John Willes
	1754	Frederick North, Lord North	Tory
	1790	George North, Lord North
	1792	Hon. Frederick North
	1794	William Holbech
	1796	Dudley Long North
	1806	William Praed
	1808	Dudley Long North
	1812	Frederick Sylvester North Douglas
	1819	Hon. Heneage Legge
	1826	Hon. Arthur Legge
	1830	Henry Villiers-Stuart	Tory^[23]
	1831	John Easthope	Radical^[24]^[25]^[26]^[27]
	1832	Henry William Tancred	Whig^[23]^[28]^[29]
	February 1859	Bernhard Samuelson	Whig^[30]
	April 1859	Sir Charles Eurwicke Douglas	Ind. Liberal^[31]
	1865	Sir Bernhard Samuelson, Bt	Liberal
1885		Borough abolished – name transferred to county division

Banbury division of Oxfordshire/Banbury County Constituency (since 1885)

More information Election, Member ...

	Member^[19]	Party
1885	Sir Bernhard Samuelson	Liberal
1895	Albert Brassey	Conservative
1906	Eustace Fiennes	Liberal
January 1910	Robert Brassey	Conservative
December 1910	Eustace Fiennes^[32]	Liberal
1918 by-election	Sir Rhys Rhys-Williams, 1st Baronet	Liberal
1918	Sir Rhys Rhys-Williams, 1st Baronet	Coalition Liberal
1922	James Edmondson, 1st Baron Sandford	Conservative
1945	Douglas Dodds-Parker	Conservative
1959	Neil Marten	Conservative
1983	Tony Baldry	Conservative
2015	Victoria Prentis	Conservative