North Devon | |
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County constituency for the House of Commons |
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Boundary of North Devon in Devon.
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Location of Devon within England.
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County | Devon |
Electorate | 75,098 (December 2010) |
Major settlements | Barnstaple and Ilfracombe |
Current constituency | |
Created | 1950 |
Member of parliament | Peter Heaton-Jones (Conservative) |
Number of members | One |
1832–1885 | |
Number of members | Two |
Type of constituency | County constituency |
Created from | Devon |
Overlaps | |
European Parliament constituency | South West England |
North Devon is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2015 by Peter Heaton-Jones of the Conservative Party.
1950-1974: The Municipal Boroughs of Barnstaple and South Molton, the Urban Districts of Ilfracombe and Lynton, and the Rural Districts of Barnstaple and South Molton.
1974-1983: The Municipal Boroughs of Barnstaple and Bideford, the Urban Districts of Ilfracombe, Lynton, and Northam, and the Rural Districts of Barnstaple, Bideford, and South Molton. (All these Districts had been abolished in 1974).
1983-2010: The District of North Devon, and the District of Mid Devon wards of Taw, Taw Vale, and West Creedy.
2010–present: The District of North Devon.
A previous two-seat constituency of the same name existed from 1832 to 1885, formally titled the 'Northern Division of Devon'. In the 20th century this area had a prominent national MP, Jeremy Thorpe, who led a Liberal revival countrywide, with particular strength in the South West.
The North Devon constituency was first created for the 1832 general election, when the Reform Act 1832 divided the former two-seat Devon into Northern and Southern divisions, each of which elected two MPs using the bloc vote system of election. The constituency was abolished for the 1885 general election, when the Redistribution of Seats Act split the county into smaller single-seat divisions. Its second creation is current and began at the 1950 general election (covering a smaller area than before). Before 1950 its territory was split between the old constituencies of Barnstaple and South Molton.