Meon Valley (UK Parliament constituency)

Meon Valley
County constituency for the House of Commons
Boundary of Meon Valley in Hampshire for the 2010 general election
Location of Hampshire within England
County	Hampshire
Electorate	71,291 (December 2010)^[1]
Major settlements	Bishop's Waltham, Waterlooville, Wickham, Rowland's Castle
Current constituency
Created	2010
Member of Parliament	Flick Drummond (Conservative)
Seats	One
Created from	East Hampshire, Havant, Winchester
Replaced by	Fareham and Waterlooville

Meon Valley (/ˈmiːɒn/) is a parliamentary constituency^[n 1] in Hampshire represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament by Flick Drummond, a Conservative, since 2019. It had previously been represented since its 2010 creation by George Hollingbery.^[n 2]

Further to the completion of the 2023 Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies, the constituency will be subject to major boundary changes abolishing the seat and dividing it between three.^[2] The bulk of the constituency namely Waterlooville and the surrounding villages will be moved to Fareham and Waterlooville. Horndean will be moved to East Hampshire of-setting losses moved into the new cross-county Surrey seat of Farnham and Bordon. Other western areas will move into Winchester and Hamble Valley.

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Constituency profile

It is a generally rural constituency, and an affluent safe seat^[3] for the Conservatives. The largest towns in the constituency are Waterlooville and Horndean.

Output areas in the area in 2001 displayed higher than average incomes overall compared to the national average.^[4] In the 2011 census, incidence of home ownership and incidence of semi-detached and detached properties all exceeded the national average and were some of the highest figures for the region.^[5]

Boundaries

Map of current boundaries

This seat has been formed by the Boundary Commission for England as an extra constituency in Hampshire, with electoral wards from East Hampshire, Havant and Winchester districts.

From East Hampshire - the wards of Clanfield and Finchdean, Horndean Catherington and Lovedean, Horndean Downs, Horndean Hazleton and Blendworth, Horndean Kings, Horndean Murray and Rowlands Castle
From Havant - the wards of Cowplain, Hart Plain and Waterloo
From Winchester - the wards of Bishops Waltham, Boarhunt and Southwick, Cheriton and Bishops Sutton, Denmead, Droxford, Soberton and Hambledon, Owslebury and Curdridge, Shedfield, Swanmore and Newtown, Upper Meon Valley, Whiteley and Wickham

The wards included are largely from parts of the former Winchester and East Hampshire parliamentary seats with some 600 voters from the Havant constituency which is otherwise unchanged.

The 2023 Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies proposed to break up the Meon Valley constituency, with the parliamentary constituencies of Winchester, Fareham and Waterlooville and East Hampshire taking over areas of the constituency. The plans went through Parliament by July 2023.^[6]

History

When created, the notional result was based on ward data from the previous seats' general election results. The new constituency takes in territory from the then Liberal Democrat-held Winchester and Conservative-held East Hampshire with uncertain swing between the two parties . Estimates were that the Conservative majority if the seat had existed in 2005 would have been around 2,000 votes. At the 2010 election however, the seat saw one of the largest Liberal Democrat to Conservative swings (9.4%), and the Conservative candidate George Hollingbery was elected with a majority of over 12,000. A similar swing was recorded in the neighbouring Winchester seat, which was a Conservative gain. It would now take a swing of almost 12% for any party to gain Meon Valley and more than 24% swing for Labour.

Following the 2015 general election it is one of the safest Conservative seats in the country.

Proposed abolition

Further to the completion of the 2023 Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies, the seat will be abolished for the next general election, with its contents distributed four ways:^[2]

The town of Waterlooville, together with the villages of Denmead, Southwick and Wickham, included in the new constituency of Fareham and Waterlooville
Horndean transferred to East Hampshire
The City of Winchester ward of Whiteley and Shedfield included in the new constituency of Hamble Valley
Remaining, largely rural areas, including the town of Bishop's Waltham, transferred to Winchester

Members of Parliament

Election		Member^[7]	Party
	2010	Sir George Hollingbery	Conservative
	2019	Flick Drummond	Conservative

Elections

Elections in the 2010s

General election 2019: Meon Valley^[8]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Flick Drummond	35,271	64.3	-1.4
	Liberal Democrats	Lewis North	11,716	21.4	+10.5
	Labour	Matthew Bunday	5,644	10.3	-8.0
	Green	Malcolm Wallace	2,198	4.0	+1.6
Majority			23,555	42.9	-4.5
Turnout			54,829	72.4	-0.7
	Conservative hold		Swing

General election 2017: Meon Valley^[9]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	George Hollingbery	35,624	65.7	+4.6
	Labour	Sheena King	9,932	18.3	+7.4
	Liberal Democrats	Martin Tod	5,900	10.9	+1.3
	UKIP	Paul Bailey	1,435	2.6	-12.2
	Green	Andrew Hayward	1,301	2.4	-1.1
Majority			25,692	47.4	+1.1
Turnout			54,192	73.0	+1.9
	Conservative hold		Swing	-1.4

General election 2015: Meon Valley^[10]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	George Hollingbery^[11]	31,578	61.1	+4.9
	UKIP	David Alexander^[12]	7,665	14.8	+11.9
	Labour	Gemma McKenna	5,656	10.9	+4.5
	Liberal Democrats	Chris Carrigan	4,987	9.6	−23.0
	Green	Diana Wellings^[13] (a.k.a. Diana Korchien^[14])	1,831	3.5	New
Majority			23,913	46.3	+22.7
Turnout			51,717	71.1	-1.6
	Conservative hold		Swing	-3.5

General election 2010: Meon Valley^[15]^[16]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	George Hollingbery	28,818	56.2	+10.4
	Liberal Democrats	Liz Leffman	16,693	32.6	−8.4
	Labour	Howard Linsley	3,266	6.4	−4.2
	UKIP	Steve Harris	1,490	2.9	+0.4
	English Democrat	Pat Harris	582	1.1	New
	Animal Protection	Sarah Coats	255	0.5	New
	Independent	Graeme Quar	134	0.3	New
Majority			12,125	23.6	+18.7
Turnout			51,238	72.7	+1.5
	Conservative hold		Swing	+9.4

Notes

^ A county constituency (for the purposes of election expenses and type of returning officer)
^ 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

^ "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.
^ ^a ^b "The 2023 Review of Parliamentary Constituency Boundaries in England – Volume one: Report – South East | Boundary Commission for England". boundarycommissionforengland.independent.gov.uk. Retrieved 21 July 2023.
^ UK Polling Report http://ukpollingreport.co.uk/2015guide/meonvalley/
^ "Local statistics - Office for National Statistics". www.ons.gov.uk.
^ "2011 census interactive maps". Archived from the original on 29 January 2016.
^ "BCE Consultation Portal".
^ Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "M" (part 2)
^ "Meon Valley parliamentary constituency". BBC News.
^ "Meon Valley parliamentary constituency". BBC News.
^ "Election Data 2015". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 17 October 2015. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
^ "UK ELECTION RESULTS: MEON VALLEY 2015".
^ "UK Polling Report".
^ "Prospective General Election Candidates | Green Party". Green Party Members' Website.
^ "Diana Korchien for Meon Valley". www.facebook.com.
^ "Election Data 2010". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 26 July 2013. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
^ "BBC News | Election 2010 | Constituency | Meon Valley". news.bbc.co.uk.

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