Bristol West

Bristol West
Borough constituency for the House of Commons
Boundary of Bristol West in Avon.
Location of Avon within England.
County	City of Bristol
Electorate	91,236 (December 2015)
Current constituency
Created	1885
Member of parliament	Thangam Debbonaire (Labour)
Number of members	One
Overlaps
European Parliament constituency	South West England

Bristol West is a borough constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It covers the central and western parts of Bristol.

1885-1918: The Municipal Borough of Bristol wards: Clifton, St Augustine's, St Michael's, and Westbury, and the local government district of Horfield.

1918-1950: The County Borough of Bristol wards: Clifton North, Clifton South, Horfield, Redland, St Michael, and Westbury-on-Trym.

1950-1955: The County Borough of Bristol wards: Bishopston, Clifton, Redland, St Augustine, St James, and St Michael.

1955-1974: The County Borough of Bristol wards: Bishopston, Cabot, Clifton, Durdham, and Redland.

1974-1983: as above plus District

1983-1997: The City of Bristol wards of Ashley, Bishopston, Cabot, Clifton, Cotham, Henleaze, Redland, and Stoke Bishop.

1997-2010: as above plus Westbury-on-Trym.

2010–present: as above less Westbury-on-Trym, Stoke Bishop and Henleaze, plus Clifton East, Easton, and Lawrence Hill

The above shows that the changes implemented for the 2010 general election boundaries were relatively great, recommended by a periodic impartial Boundary Commission review. Easton and Lawrence Hill wards were transferred from Bristol East, while Henleaze, Stoke Bishop and Westbury-on-Trym wards were lost to Bristol North West. During the review, a proposal to rename the constituency as "Bristol Central" was rejected.

More compactly urban since 2010, the seat retains a high proportion of the city's most garden-rich, grandest houses and landscaped civic parks. It was held by Conservatives continuously for 112 years. It was represented by members including Conservative cabinet ministers Michael Hicks-Beach, Oliver Stanley, Walter Monckton and William Waldegrave. As part of a national Labour Party landslide, exceeding that of 1945, the 1997 gain by Valerie Davey was from a third-placed starting point for the party's candidate in 1992. Many of the townhouses in Bristol in the latter half of the 20th century were subdivided during which time the size of the University of Bristol increased (the city's largest single independent employer which is chiefly in the seat) and the University of the West of England overtook its scale, mainly in Filton & Bradley Stoke constituency.